Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Obstruction Gang: GOP Abuses the Filibuster to Stop Progress

The current version of the Republican Party has a well-deserved reputation as The Party of No. Whatever President Obama and the Democrats propose, the GOP is against it.

But there's more to it than simple political opposition. The Republicans play games with the filibuster, deliberately gumming up the legislative process in their effort to gain political advantage.

As evidence we submit this paragraph from a recent column by New York Times column Paul Krugman, commenting on the rise of Republican stalling tactics:
The political scientist Barbara Sinclair has done the math. In the 1960s, she finds, “extended-debate-related problems” — threatened or actual filibusters — affected only 8 percent of major legislation. By the 1980s, that had risen to 27 percent. But after Democrats retook control of Congress in 2006 and Republicans found themselves in the minority, it soared to 70 percent.

4 comments:

Man of the West said...

Ah. The proper behavior for Republicans, when out of power, is to roll over, play dead, and let Democrats do as they will. I would not have understood this important point without this explanatory post. Glad you wrote it.

Mercy. You've got the votes in the Senate to stop a filibuster any time you darn well please, and you're still griping about the mean ol' GOP. You've got 60 votes available anytime, gents. If you can't successfully move legislation through the Senate, there's precious little point in blaming us. Go look in the mirror.

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