Democrats blame Republican minority for gridlock

Roll Call’s Jennifer Yachnin (requires subscription) writes today that the Democrat majority is blaming the Republican minority for Congress’ inability to pass legislation;

As the nascent majority seeks to tout its accomplishments in the first half of the year, Democrats have also turned to blaming the Senate’s Republican minority for slowing progress of major initiatives — from stalled lobbying reform to enacting recommendations made by the 9/11 commission — that Democrats promised in the previous campaign cycle.

“It’s becoming clear to people where the obstacle is,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said Tuesday. “People are frustrated that Congress hasn’t made more significant changes.”

Although recent national polls, including a Newsweek study conducted June 18-19 by Princeton Survey Research Associates, put Congressional approval ratings at a dismal 25 percent, Democrats remain adamant that those figures are skewed, in large part the result of the Senate’s failure to move legislation passed by the House.

Isn’t that odd? The majority can’t summon enough votes to pass their own legislation. And of course, it’s the Republicans fault – oh, and Bush’s fault, even though he’s not a member of Congress;

But a spokesman for the Senate Republican Conference dismissed complaints from House Democrats as an attempt to skirt responsibility.

“Last time I checked their Democratic colleagues were in charge of the Senate. It’s laughable to say that they bear no responsibility for the problems of getting things through and low poll numbers,” Conference spokesman Ryan Loskarn said.

“They spent several months screaming at each other about the supplemental and about Iraq, and then they spent weeks screaming at each other about the Energy bill, showing some deep divisions within their own Caucuses in the House and the Senate, and perhaps they ought to take a look in the mirror before they start blaming Republicans for their problems,” Loskarn said.

Democrats also have been swift to place guilt on the White House for the low ratings, citing the Iraq War, and in particular President Bush’s veto in May of an Iraq spending bill that contained timelines designed to end the conflict.

“We can’t just say, and it’s a real reason: ‘Well, we can pass whatever we can in the House, but they need 60 votes in the Senate, and the president has to sign it,’” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a speech to the liberal Campaign for America’s Future annual Take Back America conference last week. “Those are facts. Those are obstacles, but they cannot be insurmountable.” 

That’s funny – in November there was all of this talk about “working together for the American people” – what happened to all that? They were going to change the damn world in their image.

It seems to me that if Democrats really wanted to pass legislation, they’d meet the Republicans somewhere in the middle and hammer out deals that were satisfactory to both sides.

But Democrats aren’t about solutions – they’re about election issues. The less they get resolved, the more they can whine and point and tell the American people to send more Democrats to Congress. Cry babies. 

Let’s listen to some whining;

“American people voted for change,” said [Rahm] Emanuel.

 “It’s time to shine the light of day on people who are dragging their feet,” [Debbie] Stabenow said. “What we hear every day on the floor of the U.S. Senate is ‘I object, I object, I object.’ What they’re trying to do is simply run [out] the clock.”

“It’s not the Democrats who are blocking changes in Iraq, it’s the president and the Republicans in Congress,” Van Hollen said. “They are providing plenty of ammunition. It’s up to us to make use of it.”

Yeah, that’s my whiney little Congressman there at the end. I’m so proud. I’ll bet they come together for this, though;

Despite low approval ratings and hard feelings from last year’s elections, Democrats and Republicans in the House are reaching out for an approximately $4,400 pay raise that would increase their salaries to almost $170,000.

Reach out for this, fellas.

Category: Politics