Congress Knows It Has A Lot Of 'Work' To Do, But Clearly, Something Is 'Not Working'

As Congress enjoys a five-week summer recess, its body of "work" has already reached historically low levels in one key area.

Back in July, govtrack.us compiled some numbers showing how this Congress stacks up to previous ones. At 506 days into its term, the 113th Congress had pushed through 125 bills. That marked the lowest total of any unit at that point since 1973, which according to govtrack.us, was the earliest year where this kind of data existed. Not far behind was the 112th Congress, with 140 bills passed by day 506 of its two-year tenure.

HuffPost scoured back through a range of House hearings, floor speeches, and press conferences since January 2011, finding that there is a bipartisan willingness to "work together." But a lot of things are still "not working."

"If we can't work together to do the people's business, then we shouldn't be here," said Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) on the House floor in October 2013, in reaction to a letter from fifth-grade students lamenting the government shutdown.

Watch the video above.