Obstructionism

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Obstructionism "or policy of obstruction denotes the deliberate interference with the progress of a legislation by various means such as filibustering or slow walking which may depend on the respective parliamentary procedures."[1]

110th Congress

"Don Stewart, a spokesman for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the one who’s been fibbing quite a bit lately,[2] said, 'Let me get this straight: When they were in the minority, it was the majority’s fault when their agenda failed. And now that they’re in the majority, it’s the minority’s fault? Seriously?'," Steve Benen wrote October 17, 2007.[3]

"Even by Senate Republican standards, it shouldn’t be too difficult to understand. When Dems were in the Senate minority, the GOP wouldn’t let Democratic bills move. With Dems in the Senate majority, the GOP is blocking almost every piece of legislation it can from even coming up for a vote.[4] Indeed, the Senate GOP is on track to block more legislation in the 110th Congress than any in history — filibustering at triple the usual rate,[5]" Benen wrote.[6]

Roll Call reported on July 1, 2007,[7] that "239 separate bills have passed the House, only to find Senate Republicans 'objecting to just about every major piece of legislation'[8] that Harry Reid has tried to bring to the floor, whether it enjoys bi-partisan support or not.

"Indeed, Senate Republicans -- the ones accusing Dems of being a 'do-nothing Congress' -- are proud of their efforts. Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott boasted, 'The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail. So far it's working for us.'

"Voters are understandably frustrated about the lack of legislative achievements thus far, but the explanation is surprisingly straightforward: Republicans won't allow up-or-down votes on anything of significance."

Only days earlier, on June 27, 2007, Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly wrote:[9]

"I think Democrats are smart to expend some effort highlighting Republican obstructionism in the 110th Congress. It's an easy charge to make stick, since it's plainly true, and it has two equally important targets: the press and the public. The press, for its part, needs to get over its 'both sides are equally at fault' schtick, and the public, for its part, needs to know why nothing seems to be getting done in Congress. Right now, all they see are headlines telling them that 'Congress Fails to Act' on this, that, and the other. They need to know exactly who's responsible for that."

Resources and articles

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. Article on obstructionism in the Wikipedia.
  2. Steve Benen, "McConnell’s office helped drive the Frost smear," The Carpetbagger Report, October 16, 2007.
  3. Steve Benen, "House Dems looking out for themselves?" The Carpetbagger Report, October 17, 2007.
  4. Steve Benen, "The GOP — Grand Obstructionist Party," The Carpetbagger Report, September 16, 2007.
  5. Margaret Talev, "Senate tied in knots by filibusters," McClatchy Newspapers, July 20, 2007.
  6. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Ben
  7. Mojo, "GOP, Party of Obstructionism," South Georgia Liberal Blog, July 1, 2007.
  8. "Democrats Highlight Accomplishments In Face Of Republican Obstructionism," Senate Democrats, June 27, 2007.
  9. Kevin Drum, "Obstructionism," The Washington Monthly, June 27, 2007.

External resources

External articles

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