Your 2007 Congress - A Wrap-Up

We have an instant-gratification society. When the Democrats took the Congress in 2006, a lot of people thought that gold would start coming out of the faucets and every problem wrought by six years of Bushism would be miraculously overturned. The problem is that these same people weren't paying attention to the office of the Presidency over the past century. By accruing enormous amounts of executive power, and with the bonds of party so strong, it's impossible for any party to fully implement their agenda with any kind of speed from just the legislative branch.

Nevertheless, we have seen a Congress that's done far better in their first year implementing their legislative agenda than the last example of divided government, the 1995 Gingrich "revolution".



Let me add to that the passage of the first meaningful gun control legislation in 15 years, and the recent efforts to block Bush's recess appointments by leaving the Senate in pro forma sessions. Plus, they got around Bush's budget obstructionism and actually allowed it to reflect Democratic priorities to some extent (though why a Democratic Congress is honoring the Mexico City rule of denying international funding for family planning is shocking).

However, why I ultimately have to give Congress a failing grade is their inability to move forward on the big issues, and more importantly, their inability to hold the Republicans accountable for their epic obstructionism. On one level, they aren't using the Congressional instruments at their disposal; they don't have to pass any money for Iraq, which would put the onus on Bush to change course if he wants funding. They could force an actual filibuster on these major issues and let everyone see out in the open what the Republicans are committed to doing, which is nothing less than shutting down the government. And they could negotiate from a position of strength, asking for far more from the President in exchange for the bills he desires. They could also invoke the Hastert rule and stop movement on key bills without the support of a majority of the majority.

Unable to garner enough votes from their own party, House Democratic leaders had to turn to Republicans to win passage of a $555 billion domestic spending bill after the Senate appended $70 billion to it for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war funding passed 272 to 142, with Democrats voting 141 to 78 against it.

The Democratic leaders again had to appeal to Republicans to win passage of a measure to stave off the growth of the alternative minimum tax, because fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats were in open revolt and refused to go along. The Blue Dogs insisted that the Senate offset the bill's cost with tax increases on hedge-fund and private-equity managers.

Needing two-thirds of the House to pass under fast-track rules, the tax measure was approved 352 to 64, with all 64 "no" votes coming from Democrats standing by their pledge not to support any tax cut or mandatory spending increase that would expand the national debt.

The AMT patch is a tragedy. Adding $50 billion to the national debt with no offsets is a crime. As is giving any billions more for a failed occupation in Iraq. And this tendency to value the concerns of George Bush over the concerns of the rank and file of the party is what's pissing everyone off.

The military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains open. Bush's warrantless surveillance program was actually codified and expanded on the Democrats' watch. Lawmakers were unable to eliminate the use of harsh interrogation tactics by the CIA.

Democratic leaders also could not overcome the president's vetoes on an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, despite winning over large numbers of Republicans. Policies that liberals thought would be swept aside under the Democratic majority remain untouched, including a prohibition on U.S. funding for international family-planning organizations that offer abortions.

And this is all extremely disappointing. Particularly SCHIP, it's already a campaign issue, there's no need to further string that out with votes, it should have been part of the war funding deal. Instead, it'll be funded at the status quo.

But it's important to recognize the historical anomaly of what the Republicans are doing. Here's another chart:



Republicans have set the record for filibusters in a Congressional session in HALF the time. There is no analogue to this. And you would think that would get the attention of the traditional media, but it seems like almost nothing can unless Jamie Lynn Spears is involved.

Democrats have to do a better job, though, of highlighting this obstructionism, of placing the blame on the Republicans for subverting the will of the people, of making individual legislators pay the price. I'm confident that they will.