When Republicans took over Senate, they promised to govern. How'd they do?

[RandomGuy]

Last January, when Mitch McConnell took over as Senate majority leader, the GOP vowed no more government shutdowns, no defaulting on the national debt.

When Republicans took control of Congress at the start of this year, they promised to govern responsibly. No more government shutdowns. No defaulting on the national debt. They’d unstop the dam of dysfunction and get stuff done.

With the new year about to begin, the verdict is in: 2015 was one of the most productive years on Capitol Hill since divided government set in five years ago. The government also paid its bills and the lights stayed on, despite shutdown threats.

“The Republicans, particularly in the Senate, soared over a very low bar,” says Jason Grumet, president of the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank in Washington. Much credit goes to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky for opening up the legislative process – and to Democrats for taking part as a cooperative minority, Mr. Grumet says.

Americans may not yet have noticed. In December, they gave Congress an abysmally low approval rating of 13 percent, according to Gallup. That’s perhaps understandable, given the near meltdown in the House when GOP hardliners drove Speaker John Boehner to a surprise resignation in October. Daily, presidential candidates tell Americans how terrible things are in Washington.

And yet, Congress did its basic job of keeping the government funded – passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill that takes the government through the end of September.

http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-took-over-senate-promised-govern-howd-195925743.html

FWIW.

[RandomGuy]

“By any objective standard, it’s been a year of significant accomplishment,” said Senator McConnell at his year-end press conference Dec. 18. Just a half hour before, Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada said much the same thing, calling it “a successful year.”

He added: “All the things that my friends boast about – my Republican friends – we could have done them years ago, but they obstructed them. We’ve cooperated.”

There would not have been the opportunity to cooperate, however, had McConnell not made the conscious decision to open up the legislative process. He allowed for much more input than in the past, for instance, through amendments from both sides.

About 200 amendments came to the Senate floor this year, compared with just 15 last year, when the Senate was under Senator Reid’s control. The process sometimes exposed McConnell to attack from his own party – for instance from presidential candidates Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida. But it also gave lawmakers a stake in the game.

Another difference was the Senate leader’s decision to push bill-making back to committees, rather than hatch them in the leader’s office, which had become more and more the practice. Returning to “regular order” not only empowers lawmakers but increases the chance that a bill will pass, because partisan differences can be worked out early on.

Both sides get the blame/credit.

It appears that they both figured out that the way they were trying to do things didn't work. Small hope, and I doubt, as the author noted, anyone has noticed yet.

[boutons_deux]

Senate Republicans Are Blocking Obama's Judges at a Nearly Unprecedented Rate


The Senate is on pace to approve the fewest judges in more than half a century.


http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/senate-republicans-block-obama-judge-nominations

[CosmicCowboy]

I'm just grateful Ginsberg gave Obama the finger and plans to die in her robe.

[rmt]

I'm just grateful Ginsberg gave Obama the finger and plans to die in her robe.

He's still got another year to go. Don't speak too quickly - she might croak before the year is up.

As far as the GOP Congress is concerned - they are spineless cowards afraid of their own shadows - so afraid of what the media will write if they threaten to use their Constitutional power of the purse. Yes, they should stand up to Obama and the Dems and shut down the government if necessary. Did they do anything they promised the voters who gave them this majority? This budget deal gave the Democrats and Repubs each their own goodies (social programs and military) - the loser is the American taxpayer. When Schumer says, “If you would have told me this year that we’d be standing here celebrating the passage of an omnibus bill,” Schumer claimed. “I wouldn’t have believed it, but here we are.” Sickening. No difference between the Repub establishment and the Dems.

And I would be remiss in not mentioning how they twist themselves inside out regarding this Iran deal and the Corker bill - what idiots.

[Nbadan]

so afraid of what the media will write if they threaten to use their Constitutional power of the purse

I don't get this....the GOP House uses its 'Power of the Purse" every time it decides to fund a bill into law...deciding your not gonna write the check after the fact is posturing..

[boutons_deux]

I don't get this

The problem is that you're trying "get" rmt's total bullshit.

[boutons_deux]

Did they do anything they promised the voters who gave them this majority?

Repugs campaign, iow sucker their base, on social issues like guns/gays/abortion/Christian Sharia/hate-destroy-govt/racism/etc, but "govern", iow spending and cutting taxes, to enrich/protect their paymasters. You rightwingnuts are so fucking easily duped, year after year after year.

It's interesting that Bernie is now addressing you dumbfucks, trying to tell you how you've been voting against your best interests, and how his platform intends to help the 99%, red, blue, white, non-white.

I think he's right to try it, but you fucking windmills are so fucking dumb, blowing around in your own ideology of ignorance, Bernie Quixote will fail.

[rmt]

I don't get this....the GOP House uses its 'Power of the Purse" every time it decides to fund a bill into law...deciding your not gonna write the check after the fact is posturing..

I meant as a tool to negotiate for what they are supposed to want (or what they campaigned on). Put a budget deal that favors republican values on Obama's desk (they can do it with only 51 votes in the Senate - reconciliation) and make him veto it - stick by their guns until more of what they want is negotiated into the bill.

[boutons_deux]

what did you want, what did the Repugs want that they didn't get in the bill the Obama didn't veto?

[rmt]

Repugs campaign, iow sucker their base, on social issues like guns/gays/abortion/Christian Sharia/hate-destroy-govt/racism/etc, but "govern", iow spending and cutting taxes, to enrich/protect their paymasters. You rightwingnuts are so fucking easily duped, year after year after year.

It's interesting that Bernie is now addressing you dumbfucks, trying to tell you how you've been voting against your best interests, and how his platform intends to help the 99%, red, blue, white, non-white.

I think he's right to try it, but you fucking windmills are so fucking dumb, blowing around in your own ideology of ignorance, Bernie Quixote will fail.

I am a fiscal conservative - there is no way I'd ever vote for Bernie. Free this and free that - pay your own way - it makes people value what they have. I don't believe that the repubs should be wasting political capital on social issues. The government needs to keep this country safe and secure, control the borders, lower the corporate tax rate [while cutting out the loophole goodies] so that companies (and jobs) will come back, offer amnesty (at a reduced tax rate) to bring the money parked offshore back, get their financial stuff in order (don't spend more than they take in), and try to work down that debt - we should not be mortgaging our children's future.

[rmt]

what did you want, what did the Repugs want that they didn't get in the bill the Obama didn't veto?

about the only thing I liked was the continuation of no taxpayer bailout of Obamacare's risk corridors. Taxpayer should not be bailing out insurance companies - let them set the rates correctly and force Americans to see its true cost.

[mingus]

I meant as a tool to negotiate for what they are supposed to want (or what they campaigned on). Put a budget deal that favors republican values on Obama's desk (they can do it with only 51 votes in the Senate - reconciliation) and make him veto it - stick by their guns until more of what they want is negotiated into the bill.

Making him veto it accomplishes nothing other than wasting tax-payer time & money by making the legislative process more inefficient. And there's nothing politically of value in doing it because all it does is reiterate what everyone already knows about each side's philosophical differences.

The fact is we share a philosophical space with other people. Hardlining their way to anything hasn't worked and won't ever work for Republicans with a Democrat as President. It doesn't serve the practical business of policy-making well, which in turn doesn't serve Conservativism well. There's no room for ideological purity. You get what you can get, and you find out what you can/can't get before you offer up something non-negotiable. Complete waste of time.

[boutons_deux]

about the only thing I liked was the continuation of no taxpayer bailout of Obamacare's risk corridors. Taxpayer should not be bailing out insurance companies - let them set the rates correctly and force Americans to see its true cost.

whether it's taxpayers paying for the risk corridors, or insurance companies raising prices to cover costs without risk corridors, taxpayers will pay anyway.

BigHealthRacket sucking wealth out of Human-Americans is unstoppable, has been going on for decades, and it's not ACA's fault.

[Wild Cobra]

When Republicans took over Senate, they promised to govern. How'd they do?

You love your loaded questions.

Anyone that expects politicians to keep their promises are fools.

They at least did better than what democrats promise!

[rmt]

whether it's taxpayers paying for the risk corridors, or insurance companies raising prices to cover costs without risk corridors, taxpayers will pay anyway.

BigHealthRacket sucking wealth out of Human-Americans is unstoppable, has been going on for decades, and it's not ACA's fault.

No, if the prices go up enough, people will stop buying and hasten the death spiral.

[boutons_deux]

No, if the prices go up enough, people will stop buying and hasten the death spiral.

false, a death spiral of ACA (increased its enrollments end of 2015) will not have any effect on insurance costs, which will keep rising with or w/o ACA.

When people aren't insured, have a catastrophic illness, they go bankrupt (about half of personal bankruptcies were earlier due to medical bills), into poverty for many years. Or, if they are really poor taxpayers pay their medical bills anyway. If taxpayers don't reimburse hospitals, clinics, then hospitals, clinics up their prices to insurance companies which up costs to insured taxpayers.