Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor)It is a time-honored tradition for members of the House of Representatives to complain about their colleagues in the Senate, but one top ranking House Republican took the criticism a step further Wednesday when he said the current Senate was "probably" the worst ever.
At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, a reporter asked House Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy if he agreed with Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein's recent assessment that the nation is currently led by "the worst Congress ever."
"I'd disagree with your friend on the House of Representatives," McCarthy said, pointing to the number of bills passed under House Speaker John Boehner's leadership and noting that the chamber has used an "open process" that allows amendments to bills from both parties.
The same was not true, McCarthy insisted, for those in the Democrat-led upper chamber.
"Had he referred to the Senate, I'd probably agree with him," McCarthy said. "One, that bills don't come up. That you can't have the challenge—you don't even produce a budget? I mean, I'd sit back and the first way I would score an individual inside there, [I'd ask] have you done the fundamentals of producing a budget and passing it? ... We did one in four months. So there's merit to him when you talk about the Senate."
Regarding the future of the Senate, McCarthy envisioned that the chamber would begin to look more like the House in time, pointing to the Senate runoff election in Texas that resulted in victory for the tea party-backed candidate Ted Cruz.
"The Senate is like a country club, and the House is like stopping at a truck stop for breakfast," he said. "We are a microcosm of society, and we reflect it first. The Senate just hasn't had an opportunity to reflect it yet."