MARGARET CARLSON
The House Majority Leader Tom Delay, with a history of ethics violations, got caught in some very serious ones and convinced the House majority leadership to change the rules of the Ethics Committee to prevent the minority from initiating any investigations or inquiries. The Ethics Committee was the only House committee that has an equal number of majority and minority members and before this change, either side would initiate an inquiry.
The Republican House Speaker could not get a majority of his caucus behind any significant legislation. For most issues, there were major differences between the Tea Party Republicans and the others. The debates within the party were very public, and there was little of the typical party discipline or following the leadership of the Speaker of the House. The 113th Congress was the least productive Congress in modern history.
Margaret Carlson is an American journalist, political pundit, and an opinion columnist for Bloomberg News. She is known for being the first female columnist for Time magazine. She was a regular panelist for CNN's Capital Gang from 1992 until its cancellation in 2005.
