Republicans paralyze government, blame Democrats

My head just about exploded when I heard this NPR report, "Divided Congress Paralyzes Government," last Thursday. It was a repeat of Republican propaganda: the new Congress "can't agree on anything." "Spending bills are in limbo." Since Democrats can't "compromise" on SCHIP, states will be short of money to insure children. The "apparent disappearance of the middle ground," the announcer concludes, is the "very definition of a do-nothing Congress."

Then comes the quote from one of the most irresponsible flame-throwers of the House's radical-right fringe, Adam Putnam: "They have only provided a 'post office Congress'—that the only bills that have found their way to the White House have been renaming buildings."

Sickening enough that they're simply letting Republicans lie: As this report was being broadcast, the $23 billion Water Resources Development Act sat on the President's desk after passing the House 381 to 40 and the Senate 81 to 12. That ain't a bill to rename a post office. Then this past Friday, the President vetoed this overwhelmingly bipartisan bill against the objections of some of the most conservative Republicans in Congress. And the "disappearance of the middle ground is" supposed to be the Democratic Congress's fault?

NPR is reporting the story of the 110th Congress exactly the wrong way. What if their lead story on June 6, 1944 was "American G.I.'s Enjoy Day on French Beach?" That's about as accurate as running a report called "Divided Congress Paralyzes Government." That's because the real story about what's happening in Congress is that with SCHIP, the Republicans have already forced 53 cloture votes in the Senate—which means requiring ten votes above a simple Senate majority for any progress to take place. The entire 109th Congress had only 54 cloture votes. Thanks to conservative obstructionism, this Congress is on pace for 136 cloture votes in all.

The Republican minority has obstructed as much before one half of this Congress is over with than the Demcoratic minority did the entire previous Congress.

Bob Borosage predicted it exactly. But the mainstream media simply doesn't get it. Jay Leno jokes about the Democratic Congress's four-day work week—but the previous Congress only worked two days a week! NPR quotes retiring Republican Congressman David Hobson: "I don't think they're learning from our mistakes." They're "trying to ram their bills through instead of finding a compromise." But the SCHIP bill, with 18 Republican Senate votes, and the FISA bill, crafted to precisely fix the technical problem the White House complained about, already were compromises. The Republicans blocked them nonetheless. "It would seem to me that reaching out and working together is what the public wants," they quote Hobson. But that's exactly what the Democrats have been doing.

The Democrats keep winning majority votes in Congress, for measures vast majorities of the public says that they want. Campaign for America's Future explains it all here. The conservatives are conning us. Let's not let them get away with it.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future