Jim Defede Is A CBS4 News Commentator

(CBS4) MIAMI - The 109th Congress adjourned Saturday morning.

Outgoing Speaker Denis Hastert brought the gavel down about 3:15 in the morning, ending what will likely be remembered as one of the most ethically challenged and incompetent congress's in our country's history.

Dubbed the "Do Nothing" Congress, they met in session for the fewest number of days of any Congress in recent memory, and they lived up to their do-nothing status right up until the end.

Early Saturday morning, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a rising star in the Democratic Party from Weston, tried heroically to get her fellow House members to stay awake long enough to pass a national pool safety bill.

She was instrumental in passing a similar bill while she served in the Florida Legislature, as a result new pool owners in Florida are required to install certain safety features around their pools to keep small children from accidentally falling in and drowning.

At 2:53 Saturday morning Wasserman Schultz, with the help of incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, managed to get the pool safety bill brought up for a vote. It had already passed the senate and now it was up to the house.

As bleary eyed members of the house voted, Wasserman Schultz raced around the halls trying to corral her colleagues. She even found some members of Congress napping in the house cloak room, and gently nudged them onto the floor to vote.

As the time for the voting ended, Wasserman Schultz looked at the final tally and could only shake her head.

The National Pool Safety bill failed by just 9 votes. Minutes later congress adjourned.

One reason the bill may have failed is that some Republicans may not have wanted to give Wasserman Schultz a victory. Wasserman Schultz was one of the key players in helping the Democrats win back Congress and personally instrumental in the defeat of veteran Republican Clay Shaw.

Saturday afternoon, Wasserman Schultz told me she didn't think her actions during the campaign prevented the bill from being passed.

She thinks lawmakers, in the late night setting, weren't sure what they were votiong on and voted no.

She has promised to re-introduce the bill on the first day of the 110th Congress in January and believes it will pass.

The 109th congress had a chance to go out on a positive note, but fell short once again. Let's hope next year things are different.