Obstructionism

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."

110th Congress
"Don Stewart, a spokesman for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the one who’s been fibbing quite a bit lately, 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.

"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. 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, " Benen wrote.

Roll Call reported on July 1, 2007, that "239 separate bills have passed the House, only to find Senate Republicans 'objecting to just about every major piece of legislation' 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:


 * "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."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Bush's judicial nominees
 * recess appointment

External resources

 * United States Congress Conference committee in the Wikipedia.

2003

 * Scot J. Paltrow, "White House Hurdles Delay 9/11 Commission Investigation. Documents and Interviews Are Subject Of Tense Talks as Tight Deadline Looms," Wall Street Journal (BecomeTheMedia.com), July 8, 2003.
 * "Republicans Fail to Stop Democrat Filibuster of Judge Pickering," NewsMax, October 30, 2003.
 * "No Commity Tonight," PBS Online NewsHour, November 12, 2003.

2004

 * Dick Armey, "Welfare Reform Obstructionism. Senate Democrats want to undo the progress of the past eight years," FreedomWorks, April 9, 2004.
 * Gary Andres, "Cheating the Charities. Some Democrats don’t CARE," National Review Online, September 23, 2004.

2005

 * Fred Barnes, "The Ruthless Party. The media tolerate or even encourage Democratic rage. But the White House can't afford to," The Weekly Standard, February 7, 2005.
 * Gloria Borger, "Meet the new party of no," U.S. News & World Report, February 20, 2005.
 * Byron York, "Harry Reid, the Kurds and Filibusters," The Hill, February 17, 2005.
 * Glenn Reynolds, "Filibuster update," Instapundit, May 2, 2005.
 * "Obstructionism Like Never Before," GOP.com, May 12, 2005.
 * "Obstruction No Longer on Nominees," GOP.com, May 18, 2005.
 * Jack Herrington, "Democratic Obstructionism," The New Road Blog, June 25, 2005.
 * "Senate Democrats Filibuster Defense Budget," California Yankee Blog, December 21, 2005.

2006

 * Judd Gregg, Op-Ed: "Burying their heads in the sand of obstructionism," The Hill, July 19, 2006.
 * Christy Setzer, "GOP Obstructionism On Iraq," Senate Majority Project, September 26, 2006.
 * Robert J. Samuelson, "Staying in the Game. If the new Congress turns against global trade agreements, they could hurt many of the U.S. workers they hope to help," Newsweek (MSNBC), November 29, 2006.

2007

 * David Biello, "Global warming obstructionism," Scientific American (EnergyBulletin.net), February 1, 2007.
 * John Hinderaker, "Obstructionism," Power Line Blog, February 5, 2007.
 * Steve Benen, "GOP obstructionism continues," The Carpetbagger Report, April 18, 2007.
 * Steve Benen, "Why obstructionism is slowing down the Senate," The Carpetbagger Report, June 20, 2007.
 * "Despite Republican Obstructionism, Democrats are Committed to Passing the Toughest, Most Sweeping Ethics Reform in a Generation," Democratic Policy Committee, June 29, 2007.
 * Jeremy Jacobs, "Reid blasts GOP for obstructing Senate progress," The Hill, June 29, 2007.
 * Carolyn Lochhead, "Pelosi lays blame for missed goals on Senate," San Francisco Chronicle, June 30, 2007.
 * "9/11 families decry McConnell obstructionism," Think Progress, July 9, 2007.
 * Jonathan Singer, "Senate Republicans Filibuster Troop Readiness Measure," MyDD, July 11, 2007.
 * hilzoy, "Obstruction," Obsidian Wings Blog, July 11, 2007.
 * "Advanced Republican Liberalism," Undeniable Liberalism Blogspot, July 13, 2007.
 * A. Alexander, "Republican Obstructionism Dragging Down Congressional Approval," Progressive Daily Beacon, July 19, 2007.
 * kos, "Busting through GOP obstructionism on lobbying and ethics reform," The Daily Kos, July 20, 2007.
 * "Conservatives usher in era of unprecedented obstructionism," Think Progress, July 21, 2007.
 * Amanda Terkel, "Democratic-Led Congress Breaks Record For Highest Number Of Roll Call Votes In History," Think Progress, October 9, 2007.
 * B Merryfield, "Dems need to place blame squarely where it belongs," The Daily Kos, October 18, 2007. 110th Congress section above incorporated into diary.