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Congress has approved a two month extension of the payroll tax cut just today, ending a three month battle between the two major parties. According to the LA Times, “the Senate and then the House, signed off on a compromise plan by unanimous consent, a procedural move that allowed the legislation to move to the President’s desk without requiring most lawmakers to return to Washington.” President Obama will sign the bill and then early next year negotiations will resume for the year 2012. A Gallup poll this month shows that Congress’s approval rating, at just 11% is the lowest ever recorded by the polling firm. While Congress is generally unpopular, this year was marked by unprecedented gridlock leading to the severe public discontent. The highlight of the year was the partisan trench warfare over a congressional vote to raise the Federal debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion dollars. Mainstream and Tea Party Republicans used the debt ceiling vote as leverage to push through drastic cuts in social spending. Ultimately, both major parties approved the debt ceiling increase just in time, creating a so-called Super Committee of Congress to generate $1.2 Trillion dollars in deficit reduction measures. However, the committee failed to meet its commitments by its deadline, triggering automatic cuts to Medicare, the Pentagon and other programs. Lawmakers promised to stave off the cuts, rendering the entire debt ceiling battle meaningless.

Congress’ inaction on the economy sparked national activism in 2011. While 2010 news media obsessively covered the Tea Party, in 2011 the Occupy movement took center stage while the Tea Party quietly continued to exert their rightward influence on the GOP. According to Reuters, the Tea Party has been working at a grass roots campaign level organizing to, “unseat establishment Republicans who they believe have betrayed the principles of lower taxes, limited government and free markets.”

GUEST: Ruth Conniff, political editor for the Progressive Magazine

Visit www.progressive.org for more information.