109 Reasons To Dump The 109th Congress, Top 20 Listed Here.

Think Progress - 109 Reasons To Dump The 109th Congress

: We need a new Congress - here's why:

1. Congress set a record for the fewest number of days worked - 218 between the House and Senate combined.

2. The Senate voted down a measure that urged the administration to start a phased redeployment of U.S. forces out of Iraq by the end of 2006.

3. Congress failed to raise the minimum wage, leaving it at its lowest inflation-adjusted level since 1955.

4. Congress gave itself a two percent pay raise.

5. There were 15,832 earmarks totaling $71 billion in 2006. (In 1994, there were 4,155 earmarks totaling $29 billion.)

6. Congress turned the tragic Terri Schiavo affair into a national spectacle because, according to one memo, it was "a great political issue" that got "the pro-life base...excited."

7. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works thinks global warming is the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

8. The House leadership held open a vote for 50 minutes to twist arms and pass a bill that helped line the pockets of energy company executives.

9. Congress fired the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the lone effective federal watchdog for Iraq spending, effective Oct. 1, 2007.

10. The Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee thinks the Internet is "a series of tubes."

11. Congress established the pay-to-play K Street corruption system which rewarded lobbyists who made campaign contributions in return for political favors doled out by conservatives.

12. The lobbying reform bill Congress passed was a total sham.

13. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) shamefully attacked Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) on the House floor, telling him that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do."

14. Congress passed budgets that resulted in deficits of $318 billion and $250 billion.

15. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said Donald Rumsfeld "is the best thing that’s happened to the Pentagon in 25 years."

16. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) baselessly announced that "we have found the WMD in Iraq."

17. Congress passed a special-interest, corporate-friendly Central American trade deal (CAFTA) after holding the vote open for one hour and 45 minutes to switch the vote of Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC).

18. Senate conservatives threatened to use the "nuclear option" to block members of the Senate from filibustering President Bush's judicial nominees.

19. Congress stuck in $750 million in appropriations bills "for projects championed by lobbyists whose relatives were involved in writing the spending bills."

20. The typical Congressional work week is late Tuesday to noon on Thursday.