Obstruct/veto/fillibuster:Republicans grind Congress to halt

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Quote:

• Senate Republicans have obstructed almost every bill in the Senate - even ones with wide bipartisan support.
  
• 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. (110th Congress, Roll Call Votes #44, 51, 53, 74, 129, 132, 133, 162, 173, 207, 208, 227, and 228)
  
• In comparison, in the first sessions of the 108th and 109th Congresses combined, there were a total of FOUR cloture votes on motions to proceed.

EIGHT times Republican obstruction tactics slowed critical legislation

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

FOUR times Republicans blocked legislation from being debated

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

FOUR times Republicans stopped bills from reaching a vote

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

TWICE Republicans blocked bills from going to conference

* Senate Republicans blocked appointing conferees on the 9/11 Commission Recommendations (6/26/07)
* Senate Republicans blocked appointing conferees on ethics reform (6/26/07)

To put it bluntly, the Republicans have fillibustered nearly every vote which has come forth. Much, much, much more then the Dems did in the last two congresses COMBINED.

Cycloptichorn

Bush wields vetoes to block Democrats

President Bush, who didn't veto a bill for nearly six years, is now embracing the power to constrain the Democratic-controlled Congress even as his popularity remains low.

The strategy has blocked Congress from forcing troop drawdowns in Iraq and given Bush substantial leverage on children's health policies, federal spending and other issues.

But some say it carries a political risk. By thwarting congressional efforts to wind down the war and redirect spending to popular domestic programs, Bush could help Democrats portray Republicans as out of step with voters in the 2008 elections.

"The president's stubbornness is like an anchor around the Republican Party," said Rep. Al Wynn, D-Md.

The White House says Bush himself has issued 39 veto threats since Democrats took over the House and Senate in January. Top presidential aides have hinted at possible vetoes of several other bills.

Bush last week renewed his pledge to veto Congress' proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, set to expire Sept. 30. House and Senate negotiators want to add $35 billion over five years to the program. That would insure about 4 million more children from modest-income households.

Bush says the plan is too costly and would cover families that can afford private insurance. But some congressional Republicans disagree, and see the veto threat as obstinance that could threaten their party.

"I'm very, very disappointed," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who faces a tough re-election fight next year.

Democrats see such veto threats as a boon to their 2008 hopes.

Bush is trying to establish that he's a fiscal conservative after overseeing a sharp rise in the deficit, said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"I think he has picked the wrong issues," Durbin said. "If he wants to fight over children's health insurance, I'm sorry but we're ready."

But Bush said lawmakers "are putting health coverage for poor children at risk so they can score political points in Washington." He and his aides have threatened vetoes on several other matters as well, including House representation for the District of Columbia and subsidized insurance against terrorist acts.

Bush also has threatened to veto nine of the 12 appropriations bills that would fund the government for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

Overrides of presidential vetoes are seldom achieved. They require a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress.

Bush first used his veto power last summer, blocking expanded federal research using embryonic stem cells. His May 1 veto of a spending bill that would have required troop withdrawals from Iraq established his ability to block any substantial Democratic effort to restructure the war. [..]

The Republicans used the filibuster threat again today to block Boxer's amendment. That's 4 times in two days that they have used this. They filibuster every piece of legislation that comes to the floor which they don't like.

The Dems used the filibuster 4 times in two years. There's no doubt that the Republicans have taken the politics of obstruction to record heights.

On 20 September, Cycloptichorn wrote:

The Republicans used the filibuster threat again today to block Boxer's amendment. That's 4 times in two days that they have used this. They filibuster every piece of legislation that comes to the floor which they don't like.

The Dems used the filibuster 4 times in two years. There's no doubt that the Republicans have taken the politics of obstruction to record heights.

I think it shows what pussies the Democrats in congress really were and are.

McGentrix wrote:

I think it shows what pussies the Democrats in congress really were and are.

Says the guy who was whining about those obstructionist Democrats back when the Republicans were in the majority...

According to the graph you linked from Walter's post, cloture was invoked 101 times in the previous 2 years. Only 4 of those were by Democrats? I find that hard to believe.

It would be interesting to see the number fo actual Senate votes however. A number of cloture votes by itself doesn't mean much without a reference to the total number of votes cast.

Well, shoes on the other foot now, huh?

fishin wrote:

According to the graph you linked from Walter's post, cloture was invoked 101 times in the previous 2 years. Only 4 of those were by Democrats? I find that hard to believe.

I dont know where Cyclo got the number 4 from exactly, so I'll leave the specifics to him, but the contradiction you see might not be one. Walter's graph representing votes of cloture (ie, threats of fillibusters) and Cyclo referred to actual fillibusters, and Thomas explained in the other thread that "not every cloture vote represents a filibuster. Only a cloture vote that fails to invoke cloture represents a filibuster."

fishin wrote:

It would be interesting to see the number fo actual Senate votes however. A number of cloture votes by itself doesn't mean much without a reference to the total number of votes cast.

Why not?

So let me see if I have this right. A Republican introduces motion to invoke cloture to proceed to debate and, based on the votes of Democrats, the motion passes and this is evidence of Republican obstructionism. Is that the jist of the complaint?

McGentrix wrote:

Well, shoes on the other foot now, huh?

Well, at least you're honest about your hypocrisy. Anything to say about the fact that the Republicans have threatened to fillibuster much, much more than the Democrats did in the previous Congress though? After all, if you're saying that the Reps are just doing the same thing the Dems did before, you're apparently just plain wrong.

nimh wrote:

McGentrix wrote:

Well, shoes on the other foot now, huh?

Well, at least you're honest about your hypocrisy. Anything to say about the fact that the Republicans have threatened to fillibuster much, much more than the Democrats did in the previous Congress though? After all, if you're saying that the Reps are just doing the same thing the Dems did before, you're apparently just plain wrong.

That the Dem's didn't have the stones to stand for their principles does not bother me.

The Republican's do and are flexing their minority muscle. I am not sure where the hypocrisy that you suggest comes from. I am supporting my party and have done so right along. I am not saying the Republicans are doing the same thing. They are doing what the Dem's were too weak to do.

The Republican's do and are flexing their minority muscle. I am not sure where the hypocrisy that you suggest comes from. I am supporting my party and have done so right along. I am not saying the Republicans are doing the same thing. They are doing what the Dem's were too weak to do.

McGentrix wrote:

The Republican's do and are flexing their minority muscle. I am not sure where the hypocrisy that you suggest comes from. I am supporting my party and have done so right along. I am not saying the Republicans are doing the same thing. They are doing what the Dem's were too weak to do.

The hypocrisy comes from first ridiculing the Dems as obstructionist for the little fillibustering (and threatening to fillibuster) that they did, and now cheering the Reps on even as they do much more of it.

Naturally, you are well aware that there haven't been 1000 bills introduced this cycle; yet the motions for cloture are already at the equivalent of entire previous cycles, per WH's chart. That alone should tell ya something.

You picked out the one example where Republicans were working against each other - the immigration bill.

But, essentially, you're right. By calling for a cloture vote instead of unanimously consenting to it, the Republicans are stalling and wasting time and engaging in Obstructionism.

It's funny - at least McG has the sac to admit what's going on. It's sad that others don't.