Grand Obstructionist Party takes to blocking its own bills

December 12, 2007

The story is familiar enough to be mind-numbing: Congress takes up an important policy issue; the House passes a popular bill, a majority of the Senate wants to pass the bill but Republicans won’t let the legislation come to the floor. The bill gets pulled, Congress’ approval ratings fall a little further, and everyone wonders how a measure that enjoys the support of a majority of the House, Senate, and electorate can’t reach the president’s desk. Rinse, repeat.

The NYT noted today that Senate Republicans have become so reflexive in filibustering everything that moves that when Dems finally agreed to GOP demands on a bill to repair the alternative minimum tax last week, Republicans filibustered anyway — out of habit.

This isn’t going to get any better anytime soon.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, operates with near-robotic efficiency when it comes to negotiating budget figures in public, consistently refusing to answer questions that would ever commit him to a specific number at the bargaining table.

So it was more than a little telling when Mr. McConnell laid down his mark in the current budget fight on Tuesday, informing the Capitol Hill press corps that he was ready to offer Democrats a deal, $70 billion in war financing with no strings attached and a total budget identical to President Bush’s proposal.

In other words, the Republicans should get virtually everything they want. And he was not kidding.

The Senate minority is effectively holding the chamber hostage — give the GOP what it wants, or nothing will pass. It’s led to a Senate in which the Republicans have just about broken the two-year record for filibusters in less than one year.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I was, earlier this year, reluctant to see Democrats force Republicans to actually filibuster, in large part because I know it would destroy any shred of comity that might still exist in the chamber.

But the status quo is untenable, and it’s not going to change over the next year. Dems don’t want to go into next November’s election cycle with a to-do list filled with very few check marks alongside key pieces of legislation. It’ll be Republicans’ fault, of course, but that may not matter to voters who are easily misled.

If you’re just joining us, Republicans aren’t literally talking bills to death. They threaten a filibuster, the chamber holds a cloture vote, and by a gentleman’s agreement that’s been in place for a generation, the majority pulls the bill from consideration. The suggestion on the table is for Dems to end the gentleman’s agreement, and force Republicans who want to block bills to take to the floor and start talking.

I don’t doubt that the Senate leadership would consider this a radical move. I agree; it’s a little extreme. But therein lies the point: Republicans have forced the Senate’s hands by embracing an extreme tactic: blocking practically everything that moves. That’s radical.

The alternative is to wait and see if voters are willing to punish Republicans for their obstructionism. It’s a risky move — most Americans aren’t familiar with cloture votes, filibusters, and Senate procedures. All they know is that Congress isn’t passing bills.

Tell you what — try forcing the minority to literally filibuster and see what happens. I suspect Republicans would start letting bills reach the floor for up-or-down votes, but if not, we can go back to the gentleman’s agreement.

What do Dems have to lose?

“What do Dems have to lose?” Indeed, make the repubs talk… and talk… and talk. I’m sick of the Rs holding the Senate hostage, but they know how to play dirty. Now it’s time for Dems to hold them accountable.

CB – a correction 3rd paragraph from the bottom: “move” Americans… should be “most” Americans?

  • ‘ when Dems finally agreed to GOP demands on a bill to repair the alternative minimum tax last week, Republicans filibustered anyway ‘

    Conceding to the demands of bullies has never been a way to get them to act fairly or rationally.

  • Christmas is coming! Do you think any of those fat cats would actually give up vacation time for the good of the republic? Get over it Carpetbagger; everyone will fall on their knees and do the will of the great Senator from Kentucky. It’s Christmas after all.

    Seriously I agree with you CB. It is not a good time for gentleman’s agreements when one side is not behaving like gentlemen should.

  • These Republican Senators are merely working under that age-old, most Republican conumdrum: They shout that government doesn’t work, and now that they are elected to do something, they are proving themselves right. Leadership is not achieved by opposing good measures simply because you want your perceived enemies to look bad, and this is the formula these Republican Senators are using right now. Political ploys to prevent positive legislation promote pilloried political results for the Republicans in the next polling cycle. Pooey for them! -Kevo

  • How about giving McConnell a swift kick in the balls, right on the Senate floor?

    Puts new meaning to breaking a filibuster.

    Of course, you need a Majority Leader WITH balls in the first place.

  • The wealthy elites, the corrupt, the greedy, and amoral found a way to undermine our system of government that will be used to impose a continuance of their minority’s control. Small or razor-thin majorities will be bypassed and corporations and their henchmen will continue to manipulate the country; we can no longer trust that the Democrats will be able to obtain working majorities. Why not make the GOP more accountable as you suggest? Why be nice instead of nasty? What is there to lose? The media sure as hell won’t publicize the Repug nonsense. I’m sick of watching these over-fed, smug, corrupt bastards “getting away with murder.” Seven years is enough.

  • The Senate minority is effectively holding the chamber hostage — give the GOP what it wants, or nothing will pass. It’s led to a Senate in which the Republicans have just about broken the two-year record for filibusters in less than one year./

    ********************

    Can someone pls explain to me why the Repukes threatened the Nuke-U-lar option when we were in the minority, and so we put our tails b/t our legs and went home. Now, they filibuster virtually everything, and still have us by the balls??! We can’t “nuclear option” them back?

    How is this possible? Is it that our majority is so slim that we essentially have no power, and they still hold the cards and can hold us (and the Country, of course, of wh/ they couldn’t care less about) hostage? Was their majority so large, large enough as to render us irrelevant, stick us in closets in basements to hold ‘non’-hearings because they would not even grant us an official forum in wh/ to speak? They turned off the microphones IN session, against Congressional rules, when we made stmts that they did not like. (So much for the ‘rule of law’ and respect for the regulations of their own institution). They used “verbal vote casting” to put forth issues, and even when it was obvious that the Dems had the majority vote, they still declared that, ‘in the opinion of the Speaker” that the Greedy Obstructionist Phascists had won the vote. How is it possible that after all of that, we are still being used as floor mats? Pls, someone, help me understand this.

  • Dr. Asswipe, er, I mean Senator McConnell, is standing for re-election in KY and is already under a 50% approval rating. Make him stand up and defend this bullshit in public, for hours, in front of TV cameras. It’ll just speed his departure. Same for the rest of these scummy Confederate traitors masquerading as “Republicans.”

  • “The suggestion on the table is for Dems to end the gentleman’s agreement, and force Republicans who want to block bills to take to the floor and start talking.”

    “I don’t doubt that the Senate leadership would consider this a radical move. I agree; it’s a little extreme.”

    I hate these bastards and their “gentleman’s agreements”. Nobody else in the country agreed to this and their stupid and destructive never ending partisan standoff is sucking the life out of this country. A filibuster used to mean something. Now it just means capitulation and gridlock. I’m sick of these gentle persons and their agreements. They’re in their own bubble and it’s a bubble that should be destroyed. Their self serving games and agreements are destroying us.

  • How can you have a “gentelman’s agreement” with people who aren’t interested in compromise?

    Answer: You don’t. If you have the power to do so, you identify the problem and do what you can to eliminate it. In this case, Dems should say “You want to filibuster? Fine. Filibuster children’s health care, and bringing the troops home, and stopping global warming. Filibuster away, while the cameras roll.

    Freaking Dems suck. We work our asses off to give ’em a majority and they act like they need to have a veto proof majority, give ’em that and they’ll come up with another excuse.

    Ptui.

  • Making the GOP actually filibuster will change the media attention. Instead of people only seeing that Congress isn’t passing anything, they’ll get to see why. A dramatic move like this will generate a lot of press about how many bills the GOP is blocking. Everytime a popular bill comes up, and the GOP blocks it, the coverage of the Repubs talking it to death should show people that they’re on the wrong side of everything. They should have done this long ago.

  • Given the Democrats’ inability or refusal to use the filibuster as a tool to block insane legislation even when they’re the majority party, much less use it as an effective check from the minority, why not just go nuclear and get rid of the filibuster altogether (I’d except judicial nominations from that change, but including them wouldn’t bother me either)? It’s not as though the filibuster is currently being used by Republicans in good faith, or has been used for any legitimate purpose by anyone in a very long time. Aside from lifetime judicial appointments where insane majoritarianism can have effect long after its lapse into mocked minority status, the filibuster has always struck me as a thoroughly ridiculous bit of legislative arcana.

  • Bring out those cots. When everyone sees Republicans talking to prevent popular legislation from coming to a vote, it won’t be the Democrats who get the blame for inaction.

    It’s about time.

  • Y’know, it’s never quite added up for me that cloture votes are so scary that they can paralyze Congress. Sure, they show that the Repubs mean business when they say ‘no vote’, but bluffing and calling are part and parcel of the business of poker and politics. Last night, it all fell into place when I saw the list of now-ranking Dems who sat quietly a few years ago when the CIA briefed on torture and said that waterboarding is good.

    How far-fetched is this?

    The Executive Branch has had a lot of time to collect dirt on anyone and everyone that they care to (DHS has a file on ME, fergodsake). Congress knows that they know, and what they know, and they’re very much afraid that we’ll find out. As long as they pony up $70 uber-large or so every few months, no one gets hurt. This time, more Dems, and even a few Repubs are getting uppity. In the tradition of all great crime lords, George is willing to take a little damage to prove that he’s still in charge, so he outs Pelosi, et al, as knowing about the CIA/torture practices for years. Sure, the White House is obliquely admitting to the sanctioning of torture, but in the process, we suddenly learn the Congress is complicit.

    Which leads to my question-if this IS just a warning shot, what does the real stuff look like?

    I am completely sickened by my own government-both sides of the aisle.

    Peace on Earth,
    Goodwill to men.

  • There is NO excuse for not moving forward with legislation that has 51 votes. NONE.
    I can’t even express how angry this never ending acquiescence makes me.

  • What is the rationale behind not forcing the GOP to actually fillibuster when they fillibuster? I’m betting they’ve duped reporters into thinking it’s not a filibuster unless they actually read grocery lists.

  • ***btw Carpetbagger*** how come I have to enter name and email each time I comment now when it was always remembered before?????

    Dems are afraid that if repubs were forced to actually filibuster the dems would have to counter their arguments and the press (true to form) would support repubs at every turn, attempting to always show dems in a bad light. Repubs are seldom called on their lies and seldom countered on their smears. It’s difficult for dems or liberals to sink to their level of name calling. I for one would just prefer nothing was accomplished than to give in to these Repukes’ demands. Only another year…we will just have to tighten our belts till the next election when we will get rid of these obstructionist, pouting, tantrum throwing babies and replace them with reasoning adults.

    You watch, the dems will say we will continue funding for one more year till we can get you out of office because it’s better than shutting down the government. Thereby losing any respect we still had left for them. Sure it’s the republicans fault but it’s the dems who always try to be bigger than them and end up caving in. The repubs count on it.

  • Granted, the Dems appear to be utterly spineless and cowardly. Then again, there is the possibility that they are just as happy the bills never come to a vote. Gives them a chance to proclaim their support for popular bills without risking passing something K-Street opposes. K-Street is not fooled by rhetoric, of course, and pays for results. So Dems get to have it both ways. Could it be that Ralph Nader was right all along??

  • skip the “actual filibuster” step and go to the “Republican option” — that is, the nuclear option to end the right to filibuster in the first place, reminding the public that this was the R’s idea back when they were in the majority and what’s sauce for the goose etc etc.

  • whenever they are in session, it looks like the whole fucking dem party has a stockholm syndrome judging by the way they back, puppy like, into Big Rep the scarred ol’ bully dog of congress.
    Sometimes the lil dem pups snarl & yip from the safety of a recess or vacation. One might even bark some over a weekend. But every open day on the hill is the same, first Big Rep bites lil dem ‘s puppy tail off. Then he really makes that pup hurt. And no matter how much the lil dem pup pleasures ol’ toothless Big Rep, he still gets whipped & screwed for the whole session. Big Rep always comes out on top & always beats the spread.

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  • Zeitgeist,
    The nuclear option requires a majority vote and Dick Cheney being the deciding vote would make the nuclear option unavailable, alas.

    What I’ve suggested before is that a few Dems JOIN the filibuster and talk it to death for a few days listing Republican objections to S-CHIP. Basically, making a Democrat infomercial for days on end. When people complain, explain its a Republican filibuster and they can end it whenever they want and shut the few “renegade” Democrats up. The GOP will be forced to allow the vote in order to stop Democrats from quoting their heartless, simpleminded objections over and over until teh public realizes who’s to blame for the lack of progress.

  • God, I wish this would happen. But it never will — because Harry Reid is a coward and a fool. Look at the approval polls — he’s a CEO whose stock has fallen to the penny level. When will his board — the Democratic caucus — show him the motherfucking door?

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