It is not that passing lots of laws necessarily makes a “good Congress,” and many people would argue that the opposite is true. But even measures that both parties’ leaders want to get done, such as immigration reform, tax reform and transportation legislation have scant chance of reaching Obama’s desk.

House Democrats and Senate Republicans are both using this inaction to persuade voters to give them control of their respective chambers.

“It’s certainly the worst Congress since I’ve been in Congress,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who was first elected in 1972 and is retiring at year’s end. “We’ve gotten very little done.”

Waxman said Congress is the most partisan it has been during his 40-year tenure.

“It would be hard to find a worse one, for sure,” said Richard Baker, the Senate’s first historian.