"Do-nothing Congress"? Here's why.
posted by
Wally
8:43 AM
Over the holidays, when you're trapped at the dinner table listening to your Republican Bush-league brother-in-law whining about how the Democrats haven't done anything since they've been in control of Congress, here's a couple terms to drop to turn the tables: "Up or down vote". "Nuclear option". Haven't heard either of those very much since the Republicans have been relegated to the minority, have we? How about this one: "Obstructionism".
Not only have they done a 180 degree flip-flop on the topic of obstructing any legislation that they don't like by filibustering it, they have taken it to unprecedented levels and turned it from an art form into a habit, and then to an addiction. The GOP in the 110th Congress has set the record for the most filibusters ever in the history of Congress.
New Report Shows How Conservative Minority Rules by Filibuster, Preventing Up or Down Vote on a Record Number of Bills
The Republican Senate minority today filibustered an omnibus budget bill, setting a modern-day record for blocking the most legislation during a congressional session. A new report released today by the Campaign for America's Future details the 62 times conservatives have used the filibuster to block legislation (or force modification of bills) in the first session of the 110th Congress. In just the first year of this two-year Congress, their use of the filibuster in the Senate topped the previous record, reached during the entire 107th Congress.
"In just one session, a minority in Congress has prevented a mind-blowing 62 pieces of legislation from going to the floor for an up or down vote," said Campaign for America's Future co-director Roger Hickey. "Our report shows how over and over again, the uncompromising minority has thwarted the will of majorities in Congress and of the American people, holding the Senate floor hostage to a radical right-wing agenda."
Sixty votes are needed to invoke cloture and end a filibuster. The 62nd cloture vote of the session is more than any single session of Congress since at least 1973, the earliest year cloture votes are available online from the Senate. Republicans are on pace to force 134 cloture votes to cut off a filibuster, according to the Campaign for America's Future analysis, more than double the historical average of the last 35 years. 
Even pieces of legislation that have made it past the Senate filibuster blockade have been obstructed by President Bush. Last week the President vetoed for the second time a popular bill that would expand health coverage for 10 million American children. According to the Campaign for America's Future report, Bush has threatened to veto 84 bills and has vetoed six as of December 17. In contrast, during the period when the Republicans were in the congressional majority, Bush went the longest time without vetoing a bill since President Arthur Garfield. You can read the full report at The Campaign for America's Future (CAF) (.pdf format)
For those of you keeping score at home, that comes to about one Republican filibuster for every two days that Congress was in session. But unlike when the Democrats were in the minority and every hint at a filibuster was reason for front page outrage and talking head invective, you'll never read about this in the newspaper headlines or hear it on the nightly news.
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