Measuring congressional success over 100 days

Kelly O'Donnell White House Correspondent • Profile

WASHINGTON - The 100-day yardstick applied to a new president can also be used to measure achievements on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The 111th Congress made a mad dash in its early weeks in office: Under pressure from the White House and under the weight of a deteriorating economy, Congress pushed through massive government spending in what members from both parties described as lightening speed for a deliberative body. 

While Congress opened the nation's checkbook with billions in new and expanded spending, much of the action on Capitol Hill focused on reflecting public outrage. Bank CEOs were hauled before a House committee and taken to task for their use — some would argue misuse — of bailout money.

The bank executives lined up shoulder to shoulder on a collective hot seat, but often their answers lacked the transparency Congress wanted: The questioning from members was often a mix of disbelief and disdain. Representatives recounted how those back home still could not get the loans needed for homes or small businesses even after the injection of taxpayer billions into the banking system.

This Wall Street vs. Main Street clash intersected on Capitol Hill.  Many members of Congress acknowledged they had not done enough to demand answers and oversight when they passed the alphabet soup of bailouts: TARP and TALF. With last fall's dire predictions of an imminent financial collapse, Congress rushed through a bailout plan lacking clear rules and expectations.

Seeing that it didn't fix the credit crisis, public dissatisfaction grew and Congress felt that heat. 

Alongside bailout fatigue, one word became the most politically charged of the new session: bonus.

The fine print
A fever spread across Capitol Hill when lawmakers learned that taxpayer money had bankrolled bonuses for some on Wall Street who may have contributed to the meltdown. While everyday folks feared layoffs as they watched their 401(k)s melt and their home values diminish, Congress knew bonuses as high as seven figures would enrage constituents.

But Congress could — or should — have seen it coming.

Many of the bonuses for Wall Street types were in the fine print of contracts available to lawmakers. But this fine print seemed to slip past most public officials until the bonus checks were cut.

The House — even more than the Senate — can be a mood ring for what the country is feeling. And there was plenty of drama both genuine, and perhaps embellished, coming out of that chamber.

When the mostly government-owned insurance giant AIG started paying retention bonuses, the House tried to shame and compel AIG to give the money back despite legal contracts. The House voted to tax the bonuses at a 90 percent rate. The White House signaled that using the tax code as punishment would not hold up, but the fury alone may have been enough to get results. A number of AIG bonus recipients returned the money and the bonus taxing bill went on the shelf.

Label changers
The first 100 days also featured plenty of old fashioned politics stirred into big time policy debates.

Bruised by election defeats, Republicans, who are in the minority, could not vote their way to victory. So instead, they took on Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attempted to reframe the national conversation over stimulus legislation.

They managed solidarity and a more singular message over deficits and government waste, labeling the stimulus bill a "spending bill.” And with a nudge from the White House, some of the more attention-grabbing pet projects were scrapped.

Yet Pelosi and Democrats gave President Barack Obama an important legislative win by delivering the $800 billion package within weeks.  Once signed into law, Democrats did some label changing of their own and dropped "stimulus" in favor of the "Recovery Act."

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