The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion We’re not getting our money’s worth out of this Congress

February 15, 2024 at 5:05 p.m. EST
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Feb. 6 on Capitol Hill. (Kent Nishimura for The Washington Post)

Regarding the Feb. 14 news article “Senate backs billions in military aid for Ukraine, Israel”:

Here we go again. Or, more accurately, here we don’t go again. No sooner had the Senate passed a $95 billion aid package for Israel, Ukraine and other U.S. allies than House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pronounced it a nonstarter on his side of the Capitol. Won’t even debate it. Instead, his colleagues tilted at their latest windmill: the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

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According to Quorum, a data analytics firm, this keeps the 118th Congress on track to be the least productive legislature in decades. Here is Nero fiddling while Rome burns. As a taxpayer, I resent paying the salaries of legislators who refuse to legislate and prefer preening for the TV cameras to the hard work of governing their nation in an increasingly dangerous world. I don’t get to elect the representatives from Louisiana, but I would respectfully suggest to the good citizens of that state that they aren’t getting their money’s worth.

Ted Miller, Alexandria