NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
A California lawmaker who is leaving office to pursue a gubernatorial bid has criticized congressional Republicans for one of the most unproductive sessions of Congress — a record Republicans believe Democrats had an equal hand in creating.
Representative Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who hopes to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, as California’s top executive, said the low results of the 2025 legislation came from a lack of focus and a lack of bipartisan efforts.
“There was not much done in this Congress. And so, as we enter the new year, if the Republicans want to work with us to reduce costs, to reduce what we spend in the store, they will find partners in us,” said Swalwell in the Weekend.
CONGRESS FLEES TOWN AS HEALTH CARE COSTS CONTINUE TO PASS MILLIONS OF AMERICANS IN JANUARY.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., was mocked on X this week after he posted a video of himself lifting weights while bashing Republicans. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
“Now, I’m going to say that I’m the one responsible for one of those 40 pieces of legislation that was passed. It was bipartisan legislation to make it easier for nursing mothers to go through airports and not have their breast milk tested,” Swalwell said, holding up the bill he endorsed.
According to congressional records, the House of Representatives took 362 votes in the first session of the 119th Congress. By comparison, under another Republican trifecta in 2015, the House considered 710 measures in the same window.
This year, 61 bills have cleared both chambers of Congress to become law. Of those, only thirty-eight were alternative congressional resolutions.
Despite the criticism from Swalwell, Republicans looking at the manufacturing picture believe that complaints about manufacturing go both ways.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., accused Democrats on Sunday of creating misinformation on issues such as government spending to deliberately block Republican productivity.
SENATE WORKS SILENTLY ON BIPARTISAN CARE FIX AS HEALTHCARE CLIFF NEAR
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is seen on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“The American public are pawns in the dysfunction. But again, understand the Democrats, they want a shutdown,” Johnson said on Sunday Morning Features, referring to the record 43-day shutdown earlier this year. “They were responsible for it because they don’t want President Trump and the Republicans to win.”
“So, if the American economy is collateral damage, they don’t care because they just want power. They want to go back to power in November,” Johnson said.
Although lawmakers have already left Washington, DC, and won’t be back until 2026, Congress has a number of important items still pressed into the dock. Among them, the government will need to find a way to pass spending legislation before the end of January or risk another government shutdown.
Even more urgent, Congress must also decide whether to extend Obamacare’s enhanced funding, which was passed as an emergency response to COVID-19.
2026 THE DETAILS OF 2026 CONTINUE AS CONGRESS LEAVES DC WITH MORE UNFINISHED WARS
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., accuses a top housing official of pulling private housing records of Democrats and preparing them to spark a criminal investigation, according to a lawsuit filed Nov. 25. (Getty Images)
Without an extension of some kind, Democrats fear that most of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees will experience an overnight jump in premium costs when funding expires at the end of the year.
Last month, a number of Republicans broke with the majority of their party and voted with Democrats to join the consideration of the subsidy extension in January. Swalwell believes that the vote provides an opportunity for bipartisan cooperation in 2026 that does not exist in 2025.
“The authority now, the majority of the House of Representatives wants to put this funding so that the American people pay less money for health care. So, now it is the speaker, when we meet again in just a few days, whether you will put this to a vote,” said Swalwell.
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEWS PROGRAM
“But if not, the mid-year message will be, it’s too expensive. It’s too expensive in what we pay at the grocery store and figuratively, it’s too expensive in the battles we’re losing under this system.”
