{"id":11270,"date":"2007-06-27T16:05:48","date_gmt":"2007-06-27T20:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/11270.html"},"modified":"2007-06-27T16:05:48","modified_gmt":"2007-06-27T20:05:48","slug":"the-grand-obstructionist-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/the-grand-obstructionist-party\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘Grand Obstructionist Party’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does it seem as if every time the Senate is poised to consider an important measure, Republicans launch a filibuster? That the party that whined incessantly about Democratic “obstructionism” for the last several years is blocking everything that moves, hypocrisy be damned?<\/p>\n

I knew it was bad; I didn’t know it was this bad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* Senate Republicans have obstructed almost every<\/i> bill in the Senate<\/b> — even ones with wide bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

* So far, in the first half of the first session of the 110th Congress, there have been THIRTEEN cloture votes on motions to proceed — each one wasting days of Senate time<\/b>. (110th Congress, Roll Call Votes #44, 51, 53, 74, 129, 132, 133, 162, 173, 207, 208, 227, and 228<\/i>)<\/p>\n

* In comparison, in the first sessions of the 108th and 109th Congresses combined, there were a total of FOUR<\/b> cloture votes on motions to proceed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For literally years, Republicans, with a 55-seat majority, cried like young children if Dems even considered a procedural hurdle. They said voters would punish obstructionists. They said it was borderline unconstitutional. They said to stand in the way of majority rule was to undermine a basic principle of our democratic system.<\/p>\n

And wouldn’t you know it; the shameless hypocrites didn’t mean a word of it.<\/p>\n

Why hasn’t the Democratic Congress had greater success passing legislation in its first six months? Because 239 separate pieces of legislation have passed the House, only to find Senate Republicans “objecting to just about every major piece of legislation<\/a>” that Harry Reid has tried to bring to the floor.<\/p>\n

It’s not only shameless, it’s cynical. Republicans expect to get away with this nonsense because they assume most Americans don’t even know what a filibuster is. They figure, the more they obstruct, the worse Congress looks — and with a Democratic majority, that means the GOP will blame Dems for the Republicans’ delay tactics.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it’s quite a vicious cycle. Dems bring up a bill … Republicans block the bill … Dems tell voters to be patient … Republicans blame Dems for failing to deliver on their policy agenda. And if Americans aren’t paying attention, they fall for the con.
\n
\nIt’s quite a record the Senate minority has assembled.<\/p>\n

EIGHT times Republican obstruction tactics slowed critical legislation<\/b><\/p>\n

* Fulfilling the 9\/11 Commission Recommendations (Passed 97-0, Roll Call Vote #53)
\n* Improving security at our courts (Passed 93-3, Roll Call Vote #133)
\n* Water Resources Development Act (Passed 89-7, Roll Call Vote #162)
\n* A joint resolution to revise U.S. policy in Iraq (Passed 89-9, Roll Call Vote, #74)
\n* Comprehensive Immigration Reform (Passed 69-23, Roll Call Vote #173)
\n* Comprehensive Immigration Reform (Passed 64-35, Roll Call Vote #228)
\n* CLEAN Energy Act (Passed 91-0, Roll Call Vote #208)
\n* Funding for the Intelligence Community (Passed 94-3, Roll Call Vote #129) <\/p>\n

FOUR times Republicans blocked legislation from being debated<\/b><\/p>\n

* Senate Republicans blocked raising the minimum wage. (Rejected 54-43, Roll Call Vote #23)
\n* Senate Republicans blocked ethics reforms (Rejected 51-46, Roll Call Vote #16)
\n* Senate Republicans blocked comprehensive immigration reform (Rejected 45-50, Roll Call Vote #206)
\n* Senate Republicans blocked funding for renewable energy (Rejected 57-36, Roll Call Vote #223)<\/p>\n

FOUR times Republicans stopped bills from reaching a vote<\/b><\/p>\n

* Senate Republicans blocked funding for the intelligence community. (Rejected 41-40, Roll Call Vote #130)
\n* Senate Republicans blocked raising the minimum wage. (54-43, Roll Call Vote #23)
\n* Senate Republicans blocked ethics reforms (Rejected 51-46, Roll Call Vote #16)
\n* Senate Republicans blocked funding for renewable energy (Rejected 57-36, Roll Call Vote #223)<\/p>\n

TWICE Republicans blocked bills from going to conference<\/b><\/p>\n

* Senate Republicans blocked appointing conferees on the 9\/11 Commission Recommendations (6\/26\/07)
\n* Senate Republicans blocked appointing conferees on ethics reform (6\/26\/07)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have only one question: if the shoe were on the other foot, and 49 Senate Dems had blocked this many popular pieces of legislation, what do you suppose Senate Republicans would do about it?<\/p>\n

That’s not a rhetoric question; I’m genuinely curious. The GOP is awful at governing, but they’re great at whining. This report from Senate Dems documenting the problem is excellent, but if the circumstances were reversed, I can guarantee the Senate Republicans would do more than just issue a detailed report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does it seem as if every time the Senate is poised to consider an important measure, Republicans launch a filibuster? That the party that whined incessantly about Democratic “obstructionism” for the last several years is blocking everything that moves, hypocrisy be damned? I knew it was bad; I didn’t know it was this bad. * […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}