You can thank the arrogance and ignorance of tea cons for that. Any congressman who thinks that compromise is treason immediately renders them self irrelevant to the political process.
There's a reason why congressional approval rates among the public are so low.
True enough. When you consider compromise or negotiation akin to treason, blasphemy and death deserving sacrilege then you've pretty much removed yourself from the equation except as an obstacle to be dealt with in any way feasible. As in the ACA they did it to themselves. Obama didn't have to do a thing.