Congress: The Roots of Obstruction

Like Rodney Dangerfield, this Congress doesn't get much respect. Americans rate it slightly above sludge, but below George Bush, the least admired president in the history of polling. McCain strategists hope to discredit Barack Obama by linking him to Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Progressives shudder as they watch Democrats hand over a blank check to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and rail against the coming collapse on off-shore oil drilling. Republicans chant about the "do-nothing Congress."

But take another look. The reputation of the Congress would be very different had the Republican minority and George Bush not orchestrated a systematic campaign of obstruction to bottle up any progress. For example, majorities in both Houses of Congress voted for:

Setting a date certain to bring the occupation of Iraq to an end, freeing up the $12 billion a month in direct costs (about a billion a day in total) for vital needs here at home;

Saving seniors tens of billions in prescription drug prices by empowering Medicare to negotiate discounts for its bulk purchases;

Investing billions in renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, generating green collar jobs, and paying for it by repealing subsidies for oil companies already pocketing the greatest profits in recorded history;

Providing health care for millions of children of working and poor families, giving them with a chance for a healthy start to life;

Ensuring that soldiers be guaranteed adequate rest and recovery between deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan;

The Congress also managed to pass the first increase in the minimum wage in a decade, the largest increase in college aid since the GI Bill, and cleaned up its own act a bit. Now this isn't everything, but stopping a bad war, changing our energy policy, caring for the troops and providing more affordable health care to seniors and children isn't a bad start.

What stopped these measures from becoming law was a purposeful and unprecedented "block and blame" obstruction strategy by the Republican minority. In the Senate, Republicans have routinely filibustered every major piece of Democratic legislation. As a report by the Campaign for America's Future which I help direct reveals, this has forced a record number of cloture votes that require a super-majority of sixty votes to end the filibusters. This was reinforced by over 119 veto threats by President Bush(who never issued a veto as the previous Republican congresses ran up record deficits). Majority rule has essentially been repealed.

The strategy hasn't been a secret. Conservatives have openly gloated about it. Conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer told Fox News viewers, "I think [Democrats' inability to pass legislation][ will give the Republicans the one opening they are going to have in 2008. Everything is running against the Republicans, but I think they have a chance if they argue that the Democrats have been in charge and they are the do-nothing Congress." Or as former Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss, told Roll Call, "The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail...and so far it's working for us."

Now this is sort of like knee-capping the postman and then complaining that the mail is late. Will Republicans get away with it? As the economy has plummeted, they've started to worry. Recently, Republican Senators up for re-election have started to bail out, moving to help overcome filibusters and veto threats on Medicare funding. Politico reports that GOP leaders are advising vulnerable senators to "get well" with voters by siding with Democrats on everything but energy and national security.

As the economy gets worse, incumbent legislators should be nervous whether in the majority or the minority. But as Republicans posture about the do-nothing Congress, it's worth remembering that much would have gotten done had they not been in the way.

Comments

[research]

If only it were a do nothing congress:

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars would be over. Defunded.

The FISA spy on the world law would not have passed.

Mukasey would not be confirmed.

[Rog49Thomas]

A counter tactic is to put the obstructionism on the record.

To vote for measures and when there is a filliibuster - put that on record and the senators who voted against cloture.

Again and again.

And if our brave Congress is failing to take measures because Pan threatened to veto the bills, then that is just stupid. Vote the bills forward and let him veto them.

And a second item - think very hard about whether the "faces" (Speaker and Majority Leader) convey the image that the Party wants to convey.



Then a party has a powerful campaign ad

"We voted for x, y, and z - Senator R voted to stop these measures from becoming law. President X vetoed them. Vote Democratic to give us a workable majority so we can do the peoples' business."

Not only for presidential elections but also local ones. Where flag waving is the ticket, then the anti-veterans votes are used. Where the issue that will play is social justice, then that is used.

This isn't rocket science..

[S1m0n]

Whatever. After the next election, George Bush will still exist, and still be the lowest rated president in History. The republican and democratic parties will still be around, still being about as popular as they were before. Barack Obama will still exist, and his approval rating will likewise carry on.

But this congress will be history. It will have bequeathed its popularity to nothing, whether that (un)popularity be a legacy or a curse.

[knighthowl]

And your point is?

[BARRISTER]

If the "Enablers", Pelosi and Reid, hadnt taken IMPEACHMENT " OFF THE TABLE", the Republicans and Bush would have been too busy to be obstructionists.

I pray to God every day that they BOTH lose their seats in November.

[dadw5boys]

Got to have the VOTEING MAJORITY not just the simple majority or Impeachment is a waste of time.

[gmgl]

None of this explains why the Democratic controlled congress, which seem to can't pass anything good for the country, found the time and energy to pass the FISA bill that legalizes spying on Americans and worse. All the democrats had to do was table and delay the issue until after November to get a better bill. Yet somehow they couldn't do it. There is no excuse. None.

They keep whining about how they need more democrats. Maybe they need DIFFERENT democrats. We will give them that if they don't shape up.

[AbstractImp]

Progressives are becoming ever more isolated here in the former united states.

Work hard, good luck. Your generation has to remove my generation.

But really, if this nation elects John McCain in a legitimate plurality, I cannot see myself staying here. That such a creature has any legitimacy at all before the nation, at such a crucial time in our history, is a sad comment on us all.

Such an electoral result would signal the nation putting its approval on the worst decline in our ideals and our principles, that is, since we had any right to claim such ideals, after we had turned off the water cannon, taken down the signs, and opened up the vote to the slaves we had freed a hundred years before.

Shame is a terrible thing. It is the proof in your own soul that you have done wrong.

And yet it is by shame that we learn. I am waiting for America to acknowledge, that we slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent people, perhaps a million, for nothing.

America is on trial, in my narrow little eyes, and in the eyes of billions of people around the world.

This election is the most important in our modern history, since 1928 and 1932.

Mark my words. Change is coming to America, one way or the other. Ask the polar bears and the penguins.

Can you name one thing that we have done in the past decade that the world should be proud of us?

[Geniusjones]

Bah! Don't even try to defend this congress. They have betrayed the trust of the American people every bit as much as the lying cheating Bush administration has, and trying to compare one to the other is an insult to the Democracy our children are waving their little flags to.

How about comparing the current Congress to previous Congresses, for example the Republicans who impeached Clinton? THEY got something done. Now, I hated it, and I wanted to chew my own leg off at the time, but it was definitely nothing like the lazy weaklings we have currently in office supposedly defending us against the tyranny of the Neo-Cons.

I just thank the Heavens that I live in Washington State, the only place where we have our heads screwed on straight.

[Crowhaul]

Big props to our Democratic congress for rescinding Bush's Fast Track bullshit this month, so readily handed to him by the Repug congress of 2002. Seriously. What imbeciles would entrust Bush with cutting massive global deals at a whim without congressional oversight?? Who? The Repugs, that's who.

[RIPHRC]

Rep. Barney Frank is working to pass legislation via HR 5843 that will reform marijuana laws. I don't even smoke pot, but his could be one of the most important pieces of legislation passed in eons. It would free up billions of dollars spent on putting people away for vitually nothing, open up room in our over stressed penal system, as well as open the door to a possible taxation of marijuana. Alcohol and Tobacco generate tax revenue to the tune of $20 billion a year. In total, roughly $45.5 billion was spent in 2005 for "War on Drugs". The socioeconomic costs, as well as the individual costs (i.e., the personal disadvantages in income and career), caused by the incarceration of millions of people are not even included in this number. It's a no brainer!

BTW - CNN has a daily vote and todays is if you think marijuana should be legalized. Over 120,000 people voted, 65% yes. Why hasn't this been given more attention?

[krocklin]

It is true that the Democrats have been spineless and would have more effectively advanced their agenda, even when in the minority, by protesting more and standing up to Republicans forcibly.
Still the obstructionism of the Republicans is never pointed out by the MSM. Instead it lumps both parties together when nothing gets done, when it's the Republicans who have held the power and manipulated the outcome of any proposed legislation.
There are many decent Democrats in the Congress who are principled and favor an agenda that benefits the nation as a whole; the number of Republicans who fit this definition you can count on one hand - sometimes on one finger.

[insanityfollows]

Interestingly, while working this morning, I was listening to Harry Reid read off item after item that the democratic senate was either unable to pass or unable to even debate due to GOP filibuster and cloture moves. The dems tried the same thing for years and sometimes succeeded, but the GOP had a true majority in the senate and were able to pass their agenda seemingly unabated, as evidenced in the fact that Bush had zero vetoes until the election of Nov 06. The dems unfortunately do not have a true majority in the senate, just a representative margin of 51 to 49, which was reduced to 50 to 49 when the senator (can't think of his name right this second) that had a stroke last hear was out for months, and the president of the senate is non other than Dick Cheney. Considering all of that, the fact that they have succeeded in doing anything is something of a miracle.

Thanks for writing this, as many people don't really follow or don't have time to follow these more specific goings on that nevertheless affect everyone's attitudes towards capitol hill.

[Yasmine]

LONG LIVE THE DEMOCRACTIC CONGRESS..............LET'S GIVE THEM A VETO -PROOF MAJORITY
IF YOU WANT TO GET THINGS DONE.

[Sundialsvc4]

With very, very little fanfare, the Librarians of Congress have done us all an enormous service at http://thomas.loc.gov.

Here, you can look at the actual text of any bill and the actual outcome of any vote. You can read about committee hearings.

If you look at this Data, a disturbing fact emerges: at many key times, the United States Congress was NOT DIVIDED. There was NOT "a bunch of scheming Republicans" bottling things up. The proceedings were being stalled by Red and Blue alike.

Furthermore, there were votes taken ... almost-unanimous votes ... sometimes literally in the dead of night. Votes for war.

This Congress has been quite-unanimous all these years. It found it convenient to appear to be divided, but the criminal corruption that pervades this Congress also sweeps across party lines. The Members of Congress were, in fact, delighted with the war they call a "project." They were delighted to have people to point fingers at. But this war was no accident. It was intentional. And it was Democratic as much as Republican, Republican as much as Democrat.

[WIpatriot]

Absolutely fair assessment. Sundial.

[Strywever]

The left wing of Congress may be better governors (that is, people who govern) -- the right probably are better politicians (that is, people who play the game of politics in a way that more successfully supports their objectives). And I suspect the Dems as a whole will never stoop to the low and unscrupulous behavior GOP members clearly are comfortable with.

[kingofscotts]

It's absolutely amazing that the huffstars are so willing to give the Dems a pass (which I hate) yet so willing to attack the Repubs (which I appreciate).

This congress was elected on a platform of ending the war. If you don't remember then just go look up some newspapers prior to the last election.

They caved on everything. They kept funding the damn thing. They voted to strip me of my 4th amendment rights.

Make all the excuses you want. However when you come around and decide to hold both parties accountable then something might actually change.

[ErnestineBass]

I think you'll enjoy this 2005 Charley Reese column, kingofscotts. Read it and pass it on.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12290.htm

BTW, the title of the column is "Vote Out All Incumbents".

[elbzee]

I am enormously frustrated by potential traction republicans will get lying through their rotten lying teeth. I believe in the truth. I believe lacking the truth, the populace has nothing to do but believe, or wonder about the lies. Why don't democrats shout this from the rooftops. I see them on TV. They write op-eds. WHY DOESN'T ANYONE PRESENT THE TRUTH BEHIND THE FASCIST LIES? We continuously bemoan the right leaning MSM and faux news. Why the hell don't democrats GO TO THE PUBLIC with the truth. I'm not saying words. I'm saying proof positive of the truth. I mean, come on, why can't the truth be told in the United States of America any more?

[Strywever]

The public might believe or might wonder about the lies. What the public rarely does is do any independent research, and the GOP knows this. They know that due to intellecutal laziness or simple lack of concern on the part of the average citizen, they can lie and lie and lie -- and most often get away with it.

Citizens bear responsibility for the current condition of this country that is equal to if not even greater than the responsibility our elected officials bear. (After all, we chose every single one of them!) Most of of us have abdicated that responsibility for years, if not decades. This is our "reward," as designed by the dishonest and corrupt among us.

[abouttime]

Not coming to grip with "truth" is fear.
But what fear besides not being re-elcted?
Fear of retribution by the neocons perhaps?
Fear of being targeted by the Justice Department?
Fear of harm to self or family?
Fear of death?
What keeps many in Congress from acting in truth?

[eden4barack08]

I share that frustration.