FACT SHEET | June 24, 2008

Senate Democrats Work to Make the American Dream More Affordable Despite Efforts of the 'Grand Obstructionist Party'

"The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail...and so far it's working for us."

-- Former Republican Whip, Senator Trent Lott (Roll Call, 4/18/07)

Since January 2007, the Democrat-led, 110^thCongress has made a significant down-payment on our promise to take the country in a new direction after nearly a decade of Republican control and make America more affordable for working and middle class families. Under Democratic leadership, Congress has enacted bills to provide economic stimulus, promote energy independence, invest in food and nutrition programs, increase the minimum wage, prevent foreclosures, provide a pay increase for out troops, provide middle class tax relief, strengthen homeland security, fund and improve critical domestic programs, and reform the ethics and lobbying system. Yet, even as the Senate is poised to pass a comprehensive, bipartisan package to address the nation's housing crisis and a supplemental appropriations legislation that includes a 21^st Century GI bill and an extension of Unemployment Insurance benefits, Democrats are frustrated that relentless Republican obstructionism has stood in the way of more progress. 

During the 110^thCongress, Bush, and now, McCain Republicans have set new records for obstructionism in the United States Senate. As of this writing, they have engaged in 77 filibusters in the 110^th Congress and we still have six months to go. In the last month, they have blocked committee hearings and stalled Senate business by forcing Senate Democrats to jump through unnecessary procedural hoops. While these parliamentary hijinks may be "working" for Republicans, they are failing the American people. Senate Democrats continue to urge our Republican colleagues to realign their misplaced priorities with those of working- and middle-class Americans. Democrats are working to advance their priorities, beginning with making the American dream more affordable and jumpstarting the economy. We are working for change. We invite Senate Republicans to defy their reputation as the "Grand Obstructionist Party" and join us in our effort.

 

Bush-McCain Republicans have engaged in unprecedented obstructionism. Senate Republicans have delayed nearly every piece of major legislation in the 110^th Congress. By repeatedly threatening to filibuster, the GOP has forced 77 cloture votes in the Senate, thereby requiring Democrats to move or pass legislation, not by a simple majority, but by a super-majority of 60 votes. And we have nearly six months to go! In the full two-year term of the 109^th Congress -- when Democrats were in the minority -- the Senate had only 52 cloture votes on minority filibusters. Prior to the 110^th Congress, the all-time high for cloture votes in a two-year term was 57. Republicans have shattered this record. (U.S. Senate, Legislation and Records, Votes, Roll Call Tables, available here.) 

Senate Republicans have refused to even debate legislation. Bush-McCain Republicans have not only used cloture motions to require a super-majority to pass legislation, they have used cloture motions on motions to proceed to force a super-majority to even consider legislation. Already, in the one and a half years of the two-year, 110^th Congress, Republicans have forced 34 cloture votes on motions to proceed - wasting weeks of the Senate's time. As a comparison, in the 109^th Congress there were only 12 of these votes, and in the 108^thCongress there were only nine. (U.S. Senate, Legislation and Records, Votes, Roll Call Tables, available here.) 

Bush-McCain Republicans have stood in the way of bills that address the most critical issues facing our nation. Many of the bills Senate Republicans have blocked or delayed are popular, bipartisan, and/or non-controversial. Currently, one Republican Senator is obstructing passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, a widely supported and vital measure that would address the mortgage foreclosure crisis that has crippled our economy by bringingrelief to American homeowners and stabilizing the housing markets. His actions further underscore "how even bipartisan bills have fallen victim to gridlock in the closely divided Senate and how much a single senator can stand in the way." (Congressional Quarterly, "Energy Dispute Blocks Housing Bill," (June 25, 2008, available here.)

 

These obstructionist tactics only waste time, countless hours totaling weeks of valuable floor time that could be used to advance more of the people's priorities. The list of bills Republicans have blocked or delayed, often multiple times, includes legislation to:

•to restore ethics and accountability in Washington;

•raise the minimum wage;

•change of course in Iraq;

•to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission;

•fund the intelligence community, and require that all government agencies abide by the Army Field Manual;

•lower drug prices for American Seniors;

•improve food and drug safety;

•improve water resources;

•provide comprehensive immigration reform;

•fund and expand renewable energy sources;

•protect the rights of employees to organize;

•provide dwell time for our troops;

•children's health care;

•reauthorize the Farm Bill

•increase fuel-efficiency standards;

•fund the federal government;

•stimulate the struggling economy;

•address the housing crisis;

•improve consumer product safety;

•improve veterans' benefits;

•better protect employees from employment discrimination;

•address climate change;

•address gas prices and create jobs; •improve Medicare for Seniors;

•extend unemployment insurance; and

•provide tax relief for America's businesses and families.

 

Unsatisfied with 77 filibusters, Republicans have recently begun blocking committee hearings. On June 10, 2008, as Senators, staff, and the American people prepared to hear timely testimony on the use of coercive interrogation techniques in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Minority Leader McConnell via Senator Cochran took the unusual step of objecting to a daily routine request to allow the hearing to take place during the first two hours after the Senate convenes.

 

Mr. REID: Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during this session of the Senate. 

Mr. COCHRAN: Mr. President, on behalf of the Republican leader, I object. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER: Objection is heard. 

Mr. REID: Mr. President, ... [t]he hearing we were going to conduct was a hearing entitled ``Coercive Interrogation Techniques: Do They Work, Are They Reliable, and What Did the FBI Know About Them?'' ... The hearing featured a report by the Department of Justice inspector general on tactics at Guantanamo that amounted to torture...The Republicans may not want these abuses to come to light, but I think the American people have a right to know. This is part of a pattern of obstructionism by my friends on the Republican side. (Congressional Record, 06/10/08, available at link; See alsoSenate Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings, available at link.)

 

Unwilling to allow this important hearing to be stopped, Senate Majority Leader Reid recessed the Senate so that the hearing could continue for the benefit of the American people.

 

Senate Republicans have also blocked a hearing on the Supreme Court's treatment of laws that protect the health, safety, jobs, and retirement of the American people and, ironically, given the alleged reason for their obstructionism: judicial nominations, a hearing on the need for federal judgeships, a hearing that Republicans on the committee wanted. (SeeSenate Committee on the Judiciary, Hearings, available at link.) 

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Responding to the Growing Need for Federal Judgeships : The Federal Judgeship Act of 2008.'' ... 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? 

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I object...

... 

Mr. LEAHY. ... [D]id the majority leader not hear the distinguished Republican leader say they don't want to give consent to these hearings that the majority may want? ... I ask the distinguished leader, was he aware of the fact that this hearing was being held after four senior members of the Republican caucus asked me to have the hearing? Emphasis added. (Congressional Record, 06/17/08, available at link.)

 

Senate Republicans have also resorted to more ridiculous, time-wasting measures in order to thwart good legislation. Earlier in June, Minority Leader McConnell forced Senate clerks to spend several hours reading aloud the landmark Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008, a 344 page bill to address climate change. This act, a parliamentary tactic that Republicans have used before, only served to tie-up Senate business late into the night. [CQ, "Protests by the GOP continue in the Senate," 06/05/08] 

Senate Republicans are not alone in their effort to block change; far from being a "uniter," President Bush has become the Obstructionist-in-Chief. After having refused to veto a single piece of legislation during the first five years of his Presidency

-- when the Republican's controlled Congress -- and promising to foster the spirit of bipartisanship in the 110^thCongress, President Bush has opposed, threatened to veto, or vetoed, dozens and dozens of bills in Democrat-led, 110^th Congress. 

•In March 2007, the President vetoed a bill to provide emergency funding to our troops and would have changed course in Iraq. 

•In June 2007, the President vetoed bipartisan-supported legislation that would have given hope to more than 100 million Americans who suffer from diseases or conditions that could one day be treated with therapies derived from stem cell research by lifting restrictions on federally-funded stem cell research. 

•In October 2007, the President vetoed CHIP, the children's health care legislation, which was supported by a bipartisan majority of Congress overwhelmingly approved. 

•In November 2007, the President vetoed the bipartisan-supportedWater Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes investments in environmental restoration and storm protection along the Gulf Coast, supports the restoration of wetlands and their accompanying ecosystems, increases environmental protection along America's waterways, and improves the safety of levees across the country. On November 8, in what was a strong rebuke by the House and Senate, Congress overwhelmingly overrode the President's veto of WRDA allowing the bill to become law. 

•In December 2007, the President vetoed CHIP for a second time. 

•In March 2008, the President vetoed the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which would have authorized funding for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States government, including the nation's 16 intelligence agencies and the Director of National Intelligence. The bill would have also required all federal agencies -- not just the Pentagon -- to abide by the Army Field Manual, which bans the use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques, including waterboarding and other cruel and inhumane treatment. 

•In June 2008, the President vetoed the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 ("the Farm Bill"), whichinvests billions in food and nutrition programs, billions in conservation programs, and millions in programs that stimulate regional and local food economies. The bill also provides a tax credit so that rural America can produce cleaner, renewable energy. In yet another stinging rebuke, on June 18, Congress overwhelmingly overrode the President's veto 80 to 14 in the Senate allowing the bill to become law.

 

Continuing this shameful legacy, the President has now threatened to veto the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. 

Americans elected Democrats to move the country in a new direction, and we are delivering on that promise, in spite of unprecedented opposition by Bush Republicans. The "block and blame" strategy of Congressional Republicans simply will not work. After more than a decade of Republican control, Congressional Democrats are pursuing the priorities and passing the legislation that is important to the American people. In addition to other measures, Democrats have enacted into law: 

• An economic stimulus package; 
   
• A bill to increase the federal minimum wage;
   
• An energy bill that increased fuel-efficiency standards for the first time since 1975;
   
• A bill to upgrade military health care and provide a pay raise for our troops;
   
• A supplemental appropriations bill that included an additional $1.8 billion for veterans' health care;
   
• A bill to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations;
   
• An emergency spending bill that included billions for hurricane relief;
   
• A bill to increase foreclosure counseling; 
   
• A bill to ensure borrowers are not penalized for mortgage modification; 
   
• An ethics and lobbying reform bill; 
   
• A bill to cut subsidies to student lenders and provide $17 billion in grants and other student aid; 
   
• A bill to promote American competitiveness; 
   
• A bill to improve water quality across the country and protect the Gulf Coast from dangerous storms like Hurricane Katrina; 
   
• A farm bill; and 
   
• An appropriations bill to fund the federal government, including domestic programs that had been under funded during the Bush Administration.

DPC