Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

"Congress" Isn't Broken

 The GOP is.

We have two fairly major bipartisan bills working their way through the labyrinths of Congress. One would help children in poverty and provide some tax breaks. That bill is being negotiated between committee chairs in the GOP House and the Democratic Senate. The second would address the situation at the border and it moves pretty far to the right to win GOP support in the Senate. 

Both are likely DOA in the House for two reasons. 

The first is that any bipartisan deal is likely to be popular. The bill doesn't even have to have a bunch of intrinsic merit; as long as it's "bipartisan" people will like it. They want the two parties to do their freaking jobs and pass legislation. Since it is an election year, popular, bipartisan laws will presumably help Joe Biden's election campaign. Any actual solutions for the border, for instance, will deprive the GOP of their most potent campaign issue (especially as perceptions of the economy improve).

The second is simply that the GOP is a post-legislative party. They cannot function within the constraints of Congress. They cannot - both out of temperament and tactics - reach accommodation with the Democrats.  Democrats are willing to concede quite a lot in order to get these bills done. They want a border solution for the election and they are generally opposed to children living in poverty.

The GOP however will blow this all up rather than create a better situation for the American people.

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