Democrats Drive Congress Into Ground: We Are Screwed
Bush Lay's The Smackdown To Congress:
New Congress at war over everything
In a closed-door meeting before the last vote on the children’s health care bill, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer appealed for the support of about 30 wavering Republican lawmakers. What he got instead was a tongue-lashing, participants said.
The GOP lawmakers, all of whom had expressed interest in a bipartisan deal on the SCHIP legislation, were furious that the Democratic leader from Maryland had not reached out to them in a more serious way early on. They also criticized him and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois for failing to stop his allies outside Congress from running attack ads in their districts, while they were discussing a bipartisan deal.
The result was a predictable one for this bitterly divided Congress. The House vote for a second SCHIP bill was a healthy majority, but not the two-thirds needed to override another veto vowed by President Bush. Only one Republican switched his vote — to oppose the measure.
Democrats accused Republicans of hurting kids. Republicans howled about a heavy-handed, uncompromising Democratic majority. And another chance at bipartisan consensus slipped away.
“They spent $1.5 million through their various shill outreach groups attacking me and a handful of my colleagues,” Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.) said before the Hoyer meeting, “but they did not spend five minutes to approach me to ask for my vote.”
This us-against-them mentality has been an ongoing storyline of the new Democratic-controlled Congress. On the big items — Iraq, health care and spending — party leaders have shunned compromise.
Democrats are under tremendous pressure from liberal activists to take a hard-line approach against everything Bush. Republicans face similar pressure from their own base to stick with the president and prove they are serious about curtailing spending, even if it means less cash for a popular state-run health care program for children not covered by Medicaid.
Bush has only inflamed those tensions. He has threatened to veto Democratic legislation 46 times this year, according to data compiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). House Democrats have circulated a tally that puts the number at 35.
Whatever the number, the White House has been predictably confrontational — and so have Democrats.
The irony of the feud is that huge chunks of both parties are actually not far apart on the details of these big bills.
Consider Iraq. A large number of Republicans and Democrats would like to see limitations on both the duration of the war and the role of the U.S. military. And moderates such as Rep. Jim Walsh (R-N.Y.) have made it clear they could back a delicately constructed compromise. In fact, Walsh issued an open-ended statement urging Bush and Congress to implement a new strategy for the war the same morning Army Gen. David Petraeus testified in the House about the military situation in Iraq.
“I owe it to the people in my district to explain where I stand on the war,” Walsh said. But Democrats, convinced they could not force the war’s end, rejected calls by some in their own party to find a consensus and instead shifted focus to other concerns, including corruption and wasteful spending in Iraq.
Story Here
Bush Blasts Congress
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My God! This Democrat Congress Has Failed. And it's only been a few months! How can we stomach another year of this?
Also Blogging:
Conservatism With Heart
New Congress at war over everything
In a closed-door meeting before the last vote on the children’s health care bill, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer appealed for the support of about 30 wavering Republican lawmakers. What he got instead was a tongue-lashing, participants said.
The GOP lawmakers, all of whom had expressed interest in a bipartisan deal on the SCHIP legislation, were furious that the Democratic leader from Maryland had not reached out to them in a more serious way early on. They also criticized him and Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois for failing to stop his allies outside Congress from running attack ads in their districts, while they were discussing a bipartisan deal.
The result was a predictable one for this bitterly divided Congress. The House vote for a second SCHIP bill was a healthy majority, but not the two-thirds needed to override another veto vowed by President Bush. Only one Republican switched his vote — to oppose the measure.
Democrats accused Republicans of hurting kids. Republicans howled about a heavy-handed, uncompromising Democratic majority. And another chance at bipartisan consensus slipped away.
“They spent $1.5 million through their various shill outreach groups attacking me and a handful of my colleagues,” Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.) said before the Hoyer meeting, “but they did not spend five minutes to approach me to ask for my vote.”
This us-against-them mentality has been an ongoing storyline of the new Democratic-controlled Congress. On the big items — Iraq, health care and spending — party leaders have shunned compromise.
Democrats are under tremendous pressure from liberal activists to take a hard-line approach against everything Bush. Republicans face similar pressure from their own base to stick with the president and prove they are serious about curtailing spending, even if it means less cash for a popular state-run health care program for children not covered by Medicaid.
Bush has only inflamed those tensions. He has threatened to veto Democratic legislation 46 times this year, according to data compiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). House Democrats have circulated a tally that puts the number at 35.
Whatever the number, the White House has been predictably confrontational — and so have Democrats.
The irony of the feud is that huge chunks of both parties are actually not far apart on the details of these big bills.
Consider Iraq. A large number of Republicans and Democrats would like to see limitations on both the duration of the war and the role of the U.S. military. And moderates such as Rep. Jim Walsh (R-N.Y.) have made it clear they could back a delicately constructed compromise. In fact, Walsh issued an open-ended statement urging Bush and Congress to implement a new strategy for the war the same morning Army Gen. David Petraeus testified in the House about the military situation in Iraq.
“I owe it to the people in my district to explain where I stand on the war,” Walsh said. But Democrats, convinced they could not force the war’s end, rejected calls by some in their own party to find a consensus and instead shifted focus to other concerns, including corruption and wasteful spending in Iraq.
Story Here
Bush Blasts Congress
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My God! This Democrat Congress Has Failed. And it's only been a few months! How can we stomach another year of this?
Also Blogging:
Conservatism With Heart
posted by Marie's Two Cents | 10:34 AM
5 Comments:
This is a do nothing Congress that will never accomplish anything. They may very well be the catylist that returns the majority to the GOP and places a Republcian in the White House next year.
The people are tired of this crap and voters will lash out at the polls! 2006 proved that.
Of course it's failed. As Ken said on his last post, they are like flies beating their heads against a window over and over again because the flies think they can get out! I love that analogy! LOL! Congress has been doing exactly that since 2006. They have no agenda other than to bash Bush at every turn and impede our efforts in Iraq. I don't truly know how we are going to stand another year of these Turkeys.
great goin Marie..Bush should blast them more often eh!!!
What the Democrats are "accomplishing", via their Congressional majority, is a sort of reverse resume for the voting public, who are paying considerably more attention to the antics of the folks on the Hill these days than they were a year or so ago.
Good on Dubya to pound 'em for doing the kind of p---poor job that would earn any private sector employee a whirlwind tour of the pavement in a lot less time than these clowns have been in the majority.
I dont think we can stomach another year of this crap.
Hopefully come next election, those that sat out the last one will get up off thier duffs and make an effort not to repeat this mistake again!
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