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You are here: Home / House of Representatives / Congress Is Struggling to Do the Bare Minimum

Congress Is Struggling to Do the Bare Minimum

May 7, 2026 at 12:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “The House recently passed a measure reopening most of the Department of Homeland Security after a 76-day shutdown. Its passage after a monthlong logjam was hailed as a breakthrough. It wasn’t. Rather, it papered over the increasingly shaky state of Congress, with big implications for the institution and the people who run it.”

“The public perception of Congress remains near a record low, according to recent polling by Gallup, which showed 10% of voters approve of Congress and 86% disapprove—a net of minus 76 percentage points. The current GOP-controlled Congress reached a peak of 31% approval in March 2025 but saw a steep decline during last year’s record-long shutdown of the full government. Congress hasn’t been above water in more than two decades.”

“Two and a half years after rebel Republicans ousted their own speaker of the House, Congress is at a new nadir, marked by intense partisanship that deters dealmaking and slim majorities that empower any small group to defy party leaders.”

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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