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I'm not the only one grumbling about the lack of unemployment and food stamp aid in the new stimulus package. Throw in the fact that Harry Reid will let Republicans filibuster easily but drops the hammer on Democrats, and you now have disgruntled folks on the left, like Chris Hayes, saying the Democratic Congress is a failure.

To which Matt Yglesias replies:

The man's not single-handedly to blame for every problem with this congress, but the main reason the congress has been so disappointing has been that George W. Bush is still President. ... But the reason (the stimulus package is) not very good is the Republicans, not some mystifying failure on Nancy Pelosi's fault.

That's only partly true. What everybody -- including Congressional Democrats -- seems to have forgotten is that Congress is a co-equal branch of government. It has powers; different powers than the president, to be sure, but powers nonetheless. And it has failed, on critical issues, to use them properly.

Maybe you can't blame them: The Republican Congress was so compliant with President Bush's wishes, by and large, that perhaps everybody on Capitol Hill forgot that Congress can do more than conduct investigations. Sunshine is a great disinfectant, but it is only the beginning of governance.