Washington Republicans have just one move
Washington Republicans have just one move
Analysis by John Harwood
Updated 7:50 AM ET, Sun June 13, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/13/politics/washington-bipartisanship-gop-no/index.html
"The Republican answer is no.
What's the question? Just about anything important a Democratic president is asking.
...
Resistance to change is, to be sure, expected from the nation's conservative political party. An intellectual icon of the modern GOP, William F. Buckley, once described a conservative's role as to "stand athwart history, yelling 'Stop!'"
But in the era of partisan polarization, that impulse has hardened into resistance to governance itself. On issues that rile them most -- the changing face of America, domestic spending programs, tax increases -- congressional Republicans have flashed red lights at Democratic and Republican White Houses alike.
...
The failure of bipartisan compromise need not quash Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda, which in addition to infrastructure investments includes expensive new programs to help struggling families up the economic ladder. Biden could advance it through the special budget process known as "reconciliation," which requires only a simple majority vote rather than a filibuster-proof 60 ayes in the Senate. That route, which Democratic leaders have already set in motion, would not require any Republican votes. It would require every Senate Democrat and nearly every House Democrat to say yes."
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Just a friendly reminder that Republicans have been opposing progress since at least the Reagan era, and that 'No' is their answer to any legislation that is not a tax cut. It's why bipartisanship is obsolete given GOP recalcitrance.
CanonRay
(14,036 posts)andym
(5,441 posts)GOP helped pass the Voting Rights Laws in the 60s (ironic in light of their current position) and the Clean Air Acts and supported the creation of the EPA in 1970.
CanonRay
(14,036 posts)They were more moderate under Eisenhower
andym
(5,441 posts)Votes on Medicare (1965)
Senate Yea Nay Not Voting
Democrats 57 7 4
Republicans 13 17 2
House
Democrats 237 48 2
Republicans 70 68 2
https://www.ssa.gov/history/tally65.html
That would never happen today.