Even before this legislative session began to close, the 105th Congress had already been branded a "Do-Nothing" Congress by many commentators and observers.

But according to a report issued Saturday the portrait of the legislative efforts of this Congress looks much worse, and that "Do-Nothing" label tells only half the story.

"This Congress has mostly ignored the people's business, but it has kept very busy with attempts to roll back fundamental constitutional rights," said Carole Shields, president of People for the American Way Foundation.

"The 105th Congress should really be remembered as the 'Try Anything -- Do Nothing' Congress."

Throughout this congressional session, the Congress has routinely failed to act on core issues of concern to ordinary Americans like fixing health care and HMOs, campaign finance reform, strengthening Social Security and Medicare, teen smoking prevention and the tobacco settlement.

The Republican leadership of this Congress has spent its time instead attempting to enact a legislative agenda dictated by the extreme right. The leadership repeatedly tried to push through measures designed to rewrite or limit Americans' fundamental constitutional rights, responding to pet projects and peeves of the Party's Religious Right.

The First Amendment has been especially favored as a target, with free speech, artistic expression and freedom of religion all in the right wing's crosshairs.

The flurry of activity in the last few days has largely continued this pattern. Seizing upon public disapproval over Congress' poor record, the Administration was finally able to convince Congress to provide 100,000 more teachers for our children's schools.

Yet, in a cruel irony, this Congress turned down a companion school construction measure that would have provided money to build classrooms for those teachers and their pupils.

And in a final frontal assault on the First Amendment, Congress included in its end-of-session omnibus spending bill an unconstitutional Internet censorship measure that would limit adults' accessibility to all information that could be deemed harmful to children.

The measure is sure to be challenged in the Courts, and will likely be struck down like the 1996 Communications Decency Act before it, but its passage at the eleventh hour adds up to important points on the far right's pre-election report cards.

Some of the measures that consumed much of Congress' time and effort during this session are:

Flag Amendment:

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that would, for the first time in history, have carved out an exception to the First Amendment. Thankfully, supporters were unable to muster the votes necessary to bring the measure up in the Senate.

School Vouchers:

While failing on several measures to strengthen the nation's public schools, Congress repeatedly tried to force through bills that would abridge the First Amendment and harm public education by redirecting public money to support religious schools.

National Endowment for the Arts:

Having failed to impose censorship on art works, Congress made repeated efforts to eliminate funding for the Endowment.

Women's Rights:

Congress made repeated attempts to restrict women's reproductive rights.

Lesbian & Gay Equality Under the Law:

Numerous measures were aimed at limiting or eliminating the rights of gay and lesbian Americans to participate on an equal basis in the rights and freedoms of their country.

Religious Freedom:

Attempts to limit some Americans' freedom of religion took the form of a proposed constitutional amendment to allow prayer in public schools, and other measures that would tear down the protective wall between church and state.

Only the Right Wing's failure to muster the two-thirds majority needed to enact a constitutional amendment or override the President's veto prevented this Congress from going down in history as a disaster for the people's constitutional rights.

"If Armey's prediction comes true, the sequel to this Congress could be a true horror story for the American people," Shields said.

"The Republican leadership of the 105th Congress clearly marched to a far right drummer. Now it's up to the people to make them face the music."