Last week, Congressman Ron Wright (R) (TX-6), who represents Arlington in the U.S. Congress, introduced a bill (H.R. 5250) that incentives employers to hire veterans. This bill would make the work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) permanent. If the bill does not pass, the WOTC will expire at the end of December. The co-sponsor on H.R. 5250 is a Democrat from Georgia, making the bill bi-partisan.
One bill sponsored by Congressman Wright has passed the House and has been sent to the Senate. The bill is called the Digital Gap Act, and it encourages the extension of broadband as a part of construction projects using U.S. aid investments in other countries.
With impeachment getting all the news coverage, you might think nothing is getting done in Washington. In the eleven months since Ron Wright has been in Congress, he has sponsored ten bills and co-sponsored 221 others. Of those bills, twenty-one passed the House. The Senate passed four of the twenty-one. The four that passed the Senate included naming two government facilities, approving awarding the Congressional Gold Medal and authorizing a coin commemorating the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.
In this session, 70 bills have become law. These include a continuing appropriation bill to keep the government open until December 20, an extension of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the Family Farmer Relief Act and an extension of the federal Flood Insurance Program and the renaming of facilities.
Upon closer review, you might just be right to assume that nothing much is getting done in Congress. That has to be as frustrating to our representatives in Congress as it is to us back home.