GOP Lawmaker Flat-Out Says ‘No’ When Asked, ‘Has This Been a Productive Congress?’

CNN’s Manu Raju spoke with House lawmakers on Thursday who were clearly unhappy with “the amount of legislation left on the desk” before members headed out of town for the holidays.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) was particularly frustrated, and blamed the members themselves for letting important issues go unresolved.

“It’s on the individual members because they’ve— they’re gutless and they won’t stand up,” Burchett said.

Raju pressed him on the lack of productivity.

“When you look back at this Congress, has this been a productive Congress?” Raju asked.

“No,” Burchett answered outright. “I’ve been here five years. And the biggest surprise — everybody says, ‘What’s your biggest surprise up here?’ That I was not surprised. No.”

Raju next asked Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), “What do you think of the fact you guys are leaving town without addressing Ukraine?”

The Democrat from Illinois answered with a question: “Is that an abdication of our responsibility?”

Raju then moved on to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who led the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). McCarthy gave his final speech on the House floor Thursday before leaving Congress for good.

“I would say my greatest disappointment is that we put these extension of spying authorities onto our defense department authorization bill. I don’t believe that should have happened. I’ve expressed my disappointment to the speaker and to other leaders about that, and I hope we do better in the new year,” Gaetz said.

Raju said that while the House is on break, the Senate will reconvene on Monday, “in a last-ditch effort to try to get a deal on immigration” and curb the crisis at the southern border with Mexico. If they can get the border under control, Republicans have said they would consider further aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Watch the clip above via CNN.