Senate GOP vow to block everything during lame duck if priorities are not met

One day after congressional leaders met at the White House to try and compromise on various legislative issues, the Senate minority leader vowed continued Republican opposition.

Sen. Mitch McConnell sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signed by all 42 Senate Republicans saying the GOP would oppose any legislative items during the lame-duck session that were brought to the floor until the Bush tax cuts and funding the government were debated.

“While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike,” the Republicans wrote in the letter.

Democrats hoped to pass the DREAM Act, a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and the New START Treaty before Congress convened in a few weeks. After McConnell’s letter, all of that seemed in jeopardy.

Another piece of legislation that is pressing is an extension of the unemployment benefits. Republicans in both the House of Representatives and the Senate have blocked the bills meaning 2 million Americans will no longer receive their benefits if an extension is not passed by the end of the year.

Democrats also tried to pass several bills designed to spur job creation on Wednesday afternoon, but the Republicans’ obstructionism even stopped those. The bills included an extension of federal unemployment insurance benefits, legislation to encourage the construction of clean-energy homes, a bill providing federal incentives for investment in communities hit hard by the recession, and an extension of tax credits for employers that hire previously unemployed workers.

“We have an economy that needs improvement and our colleagues have said they will not let anything happen, whether it be tax credits for employers who hire the unemployed … help for the energy industry, tax credits to help manufacturers hire people, unemployment insurance,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.

None of that seems to matter to the Republicans, who apparently have no moral fiber in their body remaining. Republicans have stooped to a new low – and it was already appalling at how low they had gotten these past two years. The GOP have been saying Congress should focus on job-creating bills and here they had an opportunity to work with Democrats on such a thing and they said no.

“Republicans have said that we believe the single most important step we can take to create jobs is keep the current tax rates, which will go up automatically Jan. 1,” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said. “Secondly, we need to fund the government. Funding expires this Friday and after that we can move to whatever else the Democratic leader would like to bring up. We should fund the government, keep the tax rates where they are, freeze spending and go home.”

All the pieces of legislation Democrats hoped to pass in the lame-duck session have received support from various groups and individuals on both sides of the political spectrum. The majority of the American people are in support of everything on the lame-duck agenda. Republicans in the past have even sponsored, supported and called for those items to be passed, but now all they do is say no.

HEARTLESS PHILOSOPHY

Millions of Americans will lose their benefits by the end of the year if Congress does not act. Most of them rely on the $290 on average a week paycheck to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table and during this holiday season to buy presents for their kids. Republicans do not seem to care.

All the Republicans want is a tax cut for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. House Democrats are bringing up a vote to extend middle class tax cuts on Thursday, but Republicans have said they will not vote for it. It is unfathomable how they can say they do not want to see anybody’s taxes increase yet they are willing to vote against an extension for 98 percent of Americans. Of course all Americans will get a tax increase on Jan. 1 like they keep saying if the Republicans keep objecting to it, that is a no brainer. They could ensure 98 percent of Americans do not get an increase if they vote yes on that part, but they will not do that. It is completely heartless to say if the wealthiest Americans cannot get their tax cuts then nobody can.

It also is reprehensible that they say the government is running away with out-of-control spending yet they want to add $700 billion to the deficit by extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. They do not want to add $56 billion to the deficit to help 2 million unemployed Americans, but they do want to add $700 billion to the deficit so millionaires can continue buying $3,000 watches, or spend weeks in foreign countries or buy a Porsche because their Ferrari is a couple years old. If the $56 billion needs to be paid for than the $700 billion most certainly should too.

Republicans have become so heartless in their quest for power and greed that they apparently would rather see hardworking Americans, who at no fault of their own lost their jobs, live in cardboard boxes than see their wealthy friends at the top of corporations and on Wall Street lose in taxes what the average American probably makes in a year.

“There’s very little public discussion, and very little public criticism,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said. “You guys don’t write about, and this is what they do. I don’t see it, and I take five newspapers. I don’t see it on the tube, and I don’t see it anywhere. It’s obstruction. It’s obfuscation. It’s bringing the body to a halt and it’s been done dozens of times. And this is one more of those times… and they haven’t gotten much criticism for it clearly or they would have stopped it.”

REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTIONISM

Feinstein is correct, someone should be asking where the humanity and decency in the Republican Party went because it has been lost and it is a disgrace. There is no reason why the DREAM Act, a “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal and the New START Treaty could not be voted on in one day if Republicans allowed it. In fact, the reason why it takes so long for things to get through the Senate is because Republicans obstruct.

With their new 60-vote-for-every-single-thing-no-matter-how-insignificant philosophy they have going on, it takes at least a week for anything to get through the Senate. If legislating and governing went back to how it traditionally has been, all that would be needed is a simple majority and the time it would take to debate and vote on legislation could be cut in half.

The truth of the matter is there is time to do everything they just do not want to give President Barack Obama any victory.

It does not matter to them that current and former secretaries of state from both parties, foreign heads of state and even some in their own party are in support of the New START Treaty, they will say no. It does not matter to them that military officials, the majority of those fighting in the military and the majority of the American people are in support of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” they will say no. It does not matter to them that Republicans in the past have helped write and co-sponsored the DREAM Act, they will say no.

All that matters is that it has to be their way, or no way. The majority of the American people do not even want the tax cuts for the wealthy to continue, but in this case the Republicans say yes.

Voting on the tax cuts and funding the government are important, but to hold everything else up – again, including unemployment benefits for millions of Americans – because the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans might not get to keep their tax rates where they are is disheartening. Everyone might have their own opinions about the legislative items Democrats hope to accomplish this month, but what this all comes down to is a fight over who gets their tax cuts extended and who does not. Regardless of your thoughts on the other issues, it should outrage everyone that Republicans would say no to the middle class and say sorry about your luck to the unemployed all so the wealthy – most of whom make more in a year than most Americans make in a lifetime – can continue making more and more and more.

“[It’s] very cynical, but very obvious, [and] very transparent,” Reid said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning about the GOP stance. “With this letter, they have simply put in writing the political strategy that the Republicans pursued this entire Congress, namely obstruct, delay; obstruct, delay action on critical matters and then blame the Democrats for not addressing the needs of the American people.”

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