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Session ended with few victories for either party

WASHINGTON - Congress has wrapped up a legislative year noticeable for passing a string of bailout packages — and a dearth of any other type of bill.

That meant finishing the session with few legislative victories for either party, says Rep. Connie Mack IV.

“If the question is, ‘What did Congress achieve?’ I would say this Congress achieved growing the size and scope of government and placing a huge burden of debt and taxation onto our children,” the Fort Myers Republican said. “I don’t think it’s a record that the Congress should be proud of.”

Federal lawmakers began the year on an optimistic note, supporting legislation intended to stimulate the economy through rebate checks to taxpayers. However, recipients failed to spend the extra money as hoped, forcing Congress into rescue mode, first trying to save struggling homeowners, then the financial industry and finally, domestic automobile makers.

Mack voted against a housing bill intended to help delinquent mortgage-holders refinance into more affordable government-backed loans. He said he liked that the bill helped to restructure Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae but considered the legislation nothing more than a $300 billion federal bailout for the mortgage giants.

Mack pointed out the nation’s foreclosure rate hasn’t changed since President George W. Bush signed the bill into law last summer.

Mack also voted against several White House-backed rescue bills. Normally a dependable Republican vote, he opposed both a $700 billion Wall Street rescue package in the fall and, earlier this month, a $14 billion rescue package for the nation’s Big Three automakers.

“If you go back and read the Constitution or through the Federalist Papers, … no one thought that the federal government would be in a position to run companies, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” he said.

Next year, Mack returns to a Congress controlled by a Democratic majority that made considerable gains in last month’s election. He also will be working with a White House that, for the first time in his Capitol Hill career, will be headed by a Democrat.

Mack said he’s not sure what to expect.

“The current leadership in the Congress has put up more and more government - higher taxes, more spending and less freedom,” he said. “I think we’re heading in the wrong direction.”