What Could Have Been: The Most Important Bills Blocked By Republicans In 2012

[boutons_deux]

1. A minimum wage increase.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/0214-minimum-wage_full_600-e1356210848834.jpg

House Democrats proposed legislation in June that would have raised the national minimum wage (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/07/496003/house-dems-10-minimum-wage/) to $10 an hour, but Republicans blocked it. The minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, even though it would need to be raised to $9.92 to match the borrowing power it had in 1968. If it was indexed to inflation, it would be $10.40 today.

2. Campaign finance transparency.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Screen-shot-2012-12-22-at-4.18.54-PM-e1356211196223.png

The DISCLOSE Act of 2012 (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/17/528181/what-everyone-should-know-about-the-disclose-act-of-2012/), repeatedly blocked by Congressional Republicans, would have allowed voters to know who was funding the attack ads that flooded the airways from secretive groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/06/526111/better-know-your-right-wing-attack-groups-crossroads-gps/).
3. The Buffett Rule.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/warren_buffet-e1356211325415.jpg

Senate Republicans in April filibustered the Buffet Rule (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/16/465461/senate-republicans-filibuster-buffett-rule/), which would have set a minimum tax on millionaires. Huge majorities (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/04/13/464494/gallup-poll-buffett/) of Americans (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/27/330344/republicans-support-buffett-rule/) consistently support the rule, which would raise tens of billions of dollars per year (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/27/413625/buffett-rule-50-billon/) from Americans who have seen their incomes explode while their tax rates plummeted.


4. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/lgbt-rainbow-flag_100375401_m-e1356211740415.jpg

ENDA, which would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, has languished in Congress (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/04/14/177351/lgbt-enda-reintroduced/) for decades, and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) “hasn’t thought much (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/04/18/466994/speaker-boehner-hasnt-thought-much-about-advancing-enda/)” about bringing it to a vote.

5. U.N. treaty to protect the equal rights of the disabled.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/738677-e1356211890686.jpg

Republicans blocked ratification (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/12/28/1356701/what-could-have-been-the-most-important-bills-blocked-by-republicans-in-2012/%E2%80%9Dhttp://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/12/04/1279921/senate-republicans-vote-down-international-disabilities-treaty/%E2%80%9D) of the United Nations treaty to protect the rights of disabled people around the world, falsely claiming it would undermine parents of disabled children. In fact, the treaty would require other nations to revise their laws to resemble the Americans With Disabilities Act and had overwhelming support from veterans and disabilities groups. It failed by 5 votes.

6. The Paycheck Fairness Act.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/la-pn-congress-shifting-attention-to-womens-is-001-e1356211961687.jpeg


It’s about to be 2013, and women are still getting paid less than men for the same job (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/24/1078641/college-grad-pay-gap/). This year the Paycheck Fairness Act came up for a vote again (previous efforts to pass the law have been unsuccessful), but the Senate GOP still couldn’t get it together (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/05/495106/senate-blocks-paycheck-fairness/) to pass the legislation. Republicans oppose the measure, saying it helps trial lawyers instead of women. But the country’s female doctors, lawyers (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/05/1284131/women-pay-gap-persists/), and CEOs (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/05/03/477145/ceo-female-pay-gap/) might be inclined to disagree.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/12/28/1356701/what-could-have-been-the-most-important-bills-blocked-by-republicans-in-2012/

Notice THE TREND: Protect and enrich the 1% and UCA, while keep fucking hard the 99%.

[Wild Cobra]

Worthless bills, some of which are unenforceable without a quota system.

Why do liberals want to go backwards?

[boutons_deux]

112th Congress Set To Become Most Unproductive Since 1940s The 104th Congress (1995-1996) currently (http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/28/15518240-congress-to-make-history-but-for-the-wrong-reason?lite) holds the ignominious distinction of being the least productive session of Congress, according to the U.S. House Clerk's Office (http://library.clerk.house.gov/resume.aspx), which has records going back to 1947. Just 333 bills became law during that two-year period, meaning the 112th Congress needs to send nearly 100 more bills to Obama's desk in the next few days if it wants to avoid going down in history -

At least 40 bills, including ones awaiting Obama's signature, concerned the renaming of post offices or other public buildings. Another six dealt with commemorative coins.

House Republicans have also held votes to repeal Obamacare more than 30 times (http://www.npr.org/2012/07/09/156474493/gop-to-make-31st-attempt-to-repeal-obamacare-act) since gaining control of the chamber in 2011, despite the fact that such a measure has no chance of passing the Democratically controlled Senate or being signed by Obama.

115 times the Republican minority has held up a bill's passage by threatening to filibuster it.

Norm Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute published a Washington Post op-ed (http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-04-27/opinions/35453898_1_republican-party-party-moves-democratic-party) saying that the GOP deserves the blame for the dysfunction.
"We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional," they wrote. "In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party (http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-04-27/opinions/35453898_1_republican-party-party-moves-democratic-party)."

Congress' approval rating currently stands at 18 percent (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/congress-unproductive_n_2371387.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=122812&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeaturePhoto&utm_term=Daily%20Brief

18% seems high, I've seen 9% not long ago, but 91% of incumbents are re-elected, even if the Congressional Repugs lost the popular vote in Nov 2012 by 5M votes.

[Wild Cobra]

112th Congress Set To Become Most Unproductive Since 1940s
Yep, too bad nothing gets through the senate.

[boutons_deux]

Yep, too bad nothing gets through the senate.

"115 times the Republican minority has held up a bill's passage by threatening to filibuster it."

[Wild Cobra]

"115 times the Republican minority has held up a bill's passage by threatening to filibuster it."



They only threatened?

I see...

So the democrats held it up, since they were not actually filibustered.

Convenient excuse...

[boutons_deux]

They only threatened?

I see...

So the democrats held it up, since they were not actually filibustered.

Convenient excuse...

yep, they only threatened to filibuster. Why would the Dems not believe them?

and filibustering no longer requires standing up in the Senate and talking for hours. It's just a declaration of filibuster, gameover.

[Wild Cobra]

yep, they only threatened to filibuster. Why would the Dems not believe them?

and filibustering no longer requires standing up in the Senate and talking for hours. It's just a declaration of filibuster, gameover.
Must be nice to still be like an innocent child... Naive to the facts...

[boutons_deux]

don't be coy like the mysterious, tongue-tied TB, what facts?

[boutons_deux]

Opponents Of Filibuster Reform Offer Empty Proposal (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/28/1379201/opponents-of-filibuster-reform-offer-nothingburger-proposal/)

For weeks, Democratic senators have been crafting a filibuster reform package that, if it resembles the reforms embraced by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), will include reforms that prevent the minority from imposing hours of needless delay (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/19/1355841/majority-leader-reid-reportedly-on-board-with-streamlining-confirmations-process/) every time a new nominee is confirmed, and which will also include the so-called “talking filibuster” (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/28/1250481/obama-supports-reid-on-filibuster-reform-but-does-reid-still-support-obama/) that requires supporters of a filibuster to speak on the floor in order to maintain it.
Opponents of reform have now offered a counterproposal — and, according to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), it essentially amounts to doing nothing (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/john-mccain-filibuster-reform-counterproposal_n_2375640.html?1356711051):

Alexander, emerging from a bipartisan meeting of reform opponents held this morning in Kyl’s office, said that the proposal would limit the use of the filibuster in some cases, such as on a motion to proceed to debate, and also include provisions allowing for amendments for the minority.

“We have so many new members of the Senate, about half of the senators have never seen the Senate work properly because they’ve only been here five or six years,” Alexander said. “So we’re trying to get back to the days when the motion to proceed wasn’t used to block so many bills and when the majority leader allowed senators to offer almost any amendment. Most of that has to be established by practice, by good behavior, rather than by changing the rules.”



By limiting filibusters on motions to proceed, this proposal will restrict the minority from effectively filibustering the same bill twice (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/27/1234681/why-republican-threats-of-retaliation-call-for-more-filibuster-reform-not-less/), but it does nothing to prevent the minority from filibustering any bill they can filibuster now.

It also does nothing to prevent widespread obstruction of judicial and other nominees (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/open-government/news/2010/09/28/8327/the-tyranny-of-the-timepiece/).

And it does nothing to discourage senators from filibustering routine bills or uncontroversial nominees simply to delay or to gain leverage.

If this counterproposal passes in lieu of the more meaningful proposals endorsed by Sen. Reid and others, it will mean that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will remain the king of the Senate, and senators in the majority will still need to beg his permission in order to accomplish anything.

And any senator who votes in favor of this counterproposal and against the more substantial proposals on the table is voting to give McConnell that power.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/28/1379201/opponents-of-filibuster-reform-offer-nothingburger-proposal/

[TeyshaBlue]

don't be coy like the mysterious, tongue-tied TB, what facts?

awww...thinking about me again, boo?

You really need a hobby.

[TeyshaBlue]

lol thinkprogress. Maybe wait until the proposal is made public before shooting it down? Fucking idiots make faux news look like brain surgeons.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/john-mccain-filibuster-reform-counterproposal_n_2375640.html

[boutons_deux]

lol thinkprogress. Maybe wait until the proposal is made public before shooting it down? Fucking idiots make faux news look like brain surgeons.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/john-mccain-filibuster-reform-counterproposal_n_2375640.html

My bet is that Repug-obstructed, constipated Senate will accomplish nothing about reforming its own dysfunctional, fucked up self.

[boutons_deux]

lol thinkprogress. Maybe wait until the proposal is made public before shooting it down? Fucking idiots make faux news look like brain surgeons.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/john-mccain-filibuster-reform-counterproposal_n_2375640.html

huffington post? :lol

[TeyshaBlue]

Nothing wrong w HuffPo. They generally research their topics. Thinkprogress should shut up and take notes,

[TeyshaBlue]

My bet is that Repug-obstructed, constipated Senate will accomplish nothing about reforming its own dysfunctional, fucked up self.

Of course thats your bet. Beats thinking.

[boutons_deux]

Of course thats your bet. Beats thinking.

brilliant thinking there, TB :lol

[TeyshaBlue]

brilliant thinking there, TB :lol

Not particularly brilliant. Just looks that way in contrast to your skittering takes.

[boutons_deux]

Not particularly brilliant. Just looks that way in contrast to your skittering takes.

I gotta skitter fast and light, so much bitch slapping to do here.

[TeyshaBlue]

lol

[Wild Cobra]

Shazbot...

Are you aware that bills are suppose to originate in the house?

[DMC]

Democracy sucks eh?

The OP also makes a few things obvious:

1. Minimum wage worker
2. Homosexual
3. Has some form of disability, probably mental.
4. Hates his employer

[boutons_deux]

Democracy sucks eh?

The OP also makes a few things obvious:

1. Minimum wage worker
2. Homosexual
3. Has some form of disability, probably mental.
4. Hates his employer

DMC is raging example of just another right-wing extremist who can't handle the beat-down truth that The Great Boutons lays on him.

GFY

[TeyshaBlue]

Lol 3rd person delusion.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Lol 3rd person delusion.

I did think the Big Boutons megalomania was somewhat amusing. I hope you don't hate me because of the notation. :depressed

[TeyshaBlue]

I did think the Big Boutons megalomania was somewhat amusing. I hope you don't hate me because of the notation. :depressed

No....I hate you because youve been noted by Agloco! That two-timing bastard.:depressed