Obstruction

Hoover Time

Robert Borosage — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:45:55 -0800

In their last obstruction, Mitch “Dr. No” McConnell’s Senate Republicans blocked a bridge loan for the auto companies, unwilling even to sustain them long enough for a new administration to sculpt a responsible response to their crisis.

What was the sticking point? It wasn’t getting rid of the CEOs that drove the companies into the ditch. It wasn’t forcing the creditors to cut their loans in exchange for stock, giving them a stake in the future. It wasn’t accepting an auto czar to enforce the agreement and drive a transition to fuel efficient cars. That was agreed to.

No. Led by benighted Tennessee Senator Bob Corker – known previously solely for his “call me” race-bait campaign ad that helped him win his 2006 election – Republicans wanted to break the union and punish the workers.

They insisted that the United Auto Workers agree to cutting workers wages and benefits immediately to match the average hourly compensation paid by non-union foreign auto companies based in the South. This would entail cuts in pay by about 50 percent within the next months. For Republicans, the problem wasn’t the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. It wasn’t wrong-headed management that was skewered when soaring gas prices wiped out their SUV cash cows. It wasn’t the Wall Street dominated trade policies that sacrificed US manufacturing behind a high dollar that made it profitable to move plants and production abroad and benefited foreign competitors.

No. For the Republican senators, the bailout was a chance for a little class warfare. Why should an autoworker make $50,000-$60,000 a year, plus health care? The workers should accept half that and be happy. Autoworkers have agreed to wage givebacks and benefit cuts over the last years. They pledged even deeper cuts in relation to the agreement. But their sacrifices weren’t great enough nor the cuts fast enough for Corker and the Republicans.

Now imagine telling a family that lives on from $50,000 to $60,000 a year that they will make one-half that in six months. They’ve got mortgages, kids in school and credit-card debts just like the rest of us. Outside of the Wall Street bankers who the administration has succored without asking them to slash their wages in half, how many Americans could survive a cut of half their paycheck in a few months, without going bankrupt? How many senators who pay themselves six-figure incomes with lavish pensions and health care could manage an immediate 50 percent reduction in their salaries? (Most of them, come to think of it, since the Senate is a millionaires’ club).

Forget about the deepening recession. The Senate Republican position was essentially that the price of bailing out GM and Chrysler was to insure that the union was broken and the workers went bankrupt.

It was, of all people, Vice President Dick Cheney who reportedly warned the Republican caucus that failure to pass the bill would lead to an even worse economic downturn, that it would be “Herbert Hoover time” if the bill didn’t pass. And after the Republicans torpedoed the bill, the Asian and European stock markets plummeted, with Wall Street about to follow.

There are defining moments in politics. Here Republicans defined themselves. They are not free-market conservatives, for they were willing to do the bailout. They don’t object to nationalizing the banks or micromanaging the auto industry on the fly. They are class warriors, willing to risk a worse global economic calamity in order to break a union and force workers into bankruptcy. "Herbert Hoover time." Let’s not forget this last ignoble obstruction, committed just as the Senators went home for the holidays.

Obstruction Alert: Renewable Energy Stalled in Senate

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:22:54 -0800

A stubborn conservative minority in the U.S. Senate in December stood in the way of sensible energy legislation that would shift tax breaks away from Big Oil, which doesn't need them, and toward renewable energy companies that do. All indications are they would do it again if the energy bill that passed the House by a wide margin last week was brought to the Senate floor. The Senate leadership should do it anyway. Let the American public see who is standing for common sense energy and tax policy and who stands for throwing more tax benefits at cash-soaked oil companies.

Oil hit a record-breaking $104 a barrel on Wednesday, and with that oil company profits are sure to break records as well — just as was the case for Exxon Mobil, which last month recorded the largest quarterly profit ever for an American company. Flush with cash and encouraged by the high price oil is fetching on the world market, Exxon Mobil has announced that it will spend $25 billion to $30 billion a year through at least 2012 on capital and exploration projects.

Join environmental leaders in a discussion of the real and present dangers of climate change and how to mobilize for a different energy policy.

Announcements like that one bolster the arguments made by House Democratic leaders, who steered to passage the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act (HR 5351) by a vote of 236-182. The bill cancels just under $14 billion worth of subsidies to the five biggest U.S. oil companies so those funds can be used to help pay for subsidies for companies that produce power from wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.

The total amount of the canceled tax subsidies is only half of what Exxon Mobil spent in 2007 buying back its own stock. Clearly, Exxon Mobil doesn't need an assist from American taxpayers.

The legislation is now sitting in the Senate Finance Committee, where Max Baucus, D-Mont., is the chairman. When similar legislation came before the Senate in December, 59 members voted to allow the legislation to proceed to a final vote, but 40 senators—39 Republicans and one Democrat—voted in favor of filibuster, goaded on by a veto threat from President Bush. That effectively killed a bill that the majority of the Senate, not to mention a majority of the American people, favored.

Bloomberg quotes an oil industry analyst as saying that since that vote, "we have seen no indication that Republican opposition to the oil and natural gas tax hikes [has] abated, making the offsets the Democrats seek for the renewable programs the albatross on the bill."

Nonetheless, on Monday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised:

"As oil prices reach record highs in a weakening economy, Democrats remain committed to repealing Big Oil's tax breaks and instead use that money to expand incentives for investing in energy-efficient vehicles and renewable energy.

"Bush Republicans blocked our efforts to do so last year, but we will soon give them another chance to help lower prices at the pump and reduce our reliance on oil."

One way to get the bill through the Senate, reports Congressional Quarterly, "is to include reconciliation instructions on the energy tax provisions in the fiscal 2009 budget resolution, a process that would provide a way around the Senate’s 60-vote hurdle for ending a filibuster."

But the Senate leadership should not shy away from one more frontal assault on the obstructionists who cling to the laughable White House line that repealing unnecessary tax breaks for cash-drunk oil companies amounts to a tax increase. We should see who is prepared to face 30-second ads in their states calling attention to their vote for tax breaks for maintaining the status quo of oil dependency and against incentives to move toward a clean energy future.

Obstruction Again: GOP Minority Blocks Stimulus

Isaiah J. Poole — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:50:05 -0800

Once again, an obstinate Republican minority in the Senate vetoes the majority will, this time on a stimulus package that had bipartisan legislative and broad public support.

Forty senators voted to filibuster the Senate version of the plan, a combination of tax rebate checks, business tax breaks and benefit changes designed to cushion the blow of the current economic downturn, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Fifty-nine senators voted to move the measure to a final vote, but it takes 60 votes to block a filibuster. In the end, Reid changed his vote to "no," a common procedural move that enables him to bring the measure back to the floor. The final vote was 58-41.

The Washington Post reported:

The defeat by the narrowest of margins nearly ensures passage of a less expensive stimulus plan fashioned by President Bush and House leaders, though the Senate may make some changes. But it keeps the government on track to begin sending hundreds of dollars in payments to most Americans this spring.

"Given a chance to act as recession looms, more than 40 Republicans today said no to helping 20 million seniors and no to 250,000 disabled veterans. They said no to those who have lost their jobs and no to small business," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said after the vote.

The Senate package, which included numerous provisions not offered by the House plan, attracted powerful supporters. Automakers Ford and General Motors, home builders, Realtors and mortgage bankers joined the AARP to press Republicans to embrace the Senate measure. Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) left the campaign trail to make rare appearances in the Senate chamber.

Over the past year, we've documented the routine use of the filibuster by the Republican minority to block measures supported by the Democratic majority and a majority of the American public. In December, the Senate Republican minority, led by Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, broke the all-time record for filibusters in a single Senate session in just over 11 months.

In this case, this band of Republicans set themselves up as judge, jury and executioner over an economic stimulus package that, while passed by the Democratic majority in the House, has been widely denounced as a weak political compromise with the Bush administration (particularly forcefully by Robert Borosage) that would not reach many of the people who are being most hurt by the oncoming recession.

That is why the Senate bill added provisions that would have extended benefits to working poor who do not pay income taxes and who therefore would not have gotten tax rebate checks under the House bill. Also excluded from the House bill, but added in the Senate bill, were seniors and disabled veterans who received at least $3,000 in Social Security or veterans benefits.

But the Republican lemmings who follow McConnell's lead appear to have been more concerned about doing the bidding of the White House—with McConnell claiming that the Senate package "might not even get signed by the president"—than doing any critical thinking about whether the White House-backed approach was best for the economy.

That critical thinking could have taken place in a House-Senate conference committee. If the Republican minority allowed the Senate bill to pass, the Senate would enter into negotiations with the House, whose bill the Senate Republicans indicated they preferred. Sure, House-Senate conferences are often messy affairs, but that is how the political process is supposed to work. That is where the compromises are supposed to happen.

For decades, that is how the process worked, until the Senate's most conservative Republicans decided that they had the unilateral right to cancel out the 2006 election returns that gave Democrats majority control of both houses of Congress. In fact, while they have the ability to do that, they don't have the right. That's why the Republicans need to be called on their obstructionist abuse of the filibuster every time it happens.

Comebacks and Counterattacks: The War In Iraq and Republican Obstruction

Kaizad Bhabha — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:15:57 -0800

THEY SAY	WE SAY
We need to fight them there so we won't need to fight them here. Iraq is a key battleground in the war on terror.	The war in Iraq has made us less safe. The U.S. official National Intelligence Estimate concludes that the war in Iraq has increased Islamic radicalism, and has made the terror threat around the world worse. The number of significant terrorist incidents worldwide tripled in the year after the war started, and a bipartisan survey of national security experts says the war in Iraq is making the world more dangerous for Americans.
We need to stay the course. We can't cut and run.	The current strategy is failing. The sooner we recognize that and make changes, the more chance we have of success. Nobody is planning an immediate headlong flight. What's needed is a deliberate, orderly transition. Iraqis need to manage their own affairs. We can’t referee their civil war. 63 percent of Americans and 70 percent of Iraqis want a timetable for withdrawal. That's not running away. That's listening.
You aren't supporting the troops.	We are supporting the troops by bringing them home. Republicans defeated by filibuster even a rest for soldiers and National Guard who served far longer than they ever expected to.
Give us more time.	The war has gone on for four years, longer than U.S. involvement in World War II. But Bush keeps asking for more time. The so-called "surge" was supposed to be the last ask, and Bush said he needed until September to see if it worked. Now as September approaches, they are asking until spring. Enough is enough.
We can't back down to terrorists.	There is no military solution to problems in Iraq. A diplomatic solution is long overdue. We need to regroup with our allies, revisit the Iraq Study Group and cooperate with the Iraqis.
The do-nothing Democratic Congress can't get anything done.	Republican stonewalling has reached historic proportions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "Six in '06" – bills with broad, bipartisan support -- passed quickly out of the House, then it hit filibusters in the Senate. Virtually every progressive reform, not just Iraq, has been obstructed. When Democrats threatened to filibuster extreme right-wing judicial appointments (while passing other judicial appointments), Republicans cried "Foul!" and demanded an "up or down vote." Now they threaten to filibuster everything.

Read "The Real Cost of the Iraq War"
More facts and perspectives on Iraq and national security are on our Real Security page.

Presidential Veto Watch

Kaizad Bhabha — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:04:05 -0800

131 veto threats since the beginning of the 110th Congress
115 veto threats from May 1, 2007
86 veto threats during the 1st session of the 110th Congress
45 veto threats during the 2nd session of the 110th Congress (as of July 29, 2008)

The list of bills President Bush has threatened to veto (as of July 29, 2008). (For more details, see our report, "Obstruction by Veto.")

Bill Number	Title	Date of Veto Threat
110th Congress, 2nd Session
S 3186	To provide funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program	7/26/2008
HR 6578	Strategic Petroleum Reserve Drawdown and Swap	7/24/2008
HR 6532	General Fund Appropriation to the Highway Trust Fund	7/23/2008
HR 6515	Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act of 2008	7/17/2008
HR 5959	Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2009	7/16/2008
HR 3329	Homes for Heroes Act of 2007	7/9/2008
HR 5811	The Electronic Message Preservation Act	7/8/2008
HR 6331	Medicare Act of 2008-Senate Version	6/26/2008
HR 6251	Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act	6/26/2008
HR 6275	Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008	6/24/08
HR 6346	Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act	6/24/2008
HR 6331	Medicare Act of 2008	6/24/2008
HR 3221	American Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Senate substitute to House amendments)	6/19/2008
HR 5781	Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2008	6/17/2008
S 3101	Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008	6/12/2008
HR 5749	Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008	6/11/2008
S 3044	Consumer-First Energy Act	6/10/2008
HR 6003	Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008	6/9/2008
HR 3058	Public Land Communities Transition Act of 2007	6/4/2008
HR 3021	21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act	6/3/08
S 3036	Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act	6/2/08
HR 5658	Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009	5/22/08
HR 6049	Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008	5/21/08
HR 2642	Supplemental Appropriations Bill of 2008	5/20/08
HR 6074	Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act of 2008	5/19/08
SJR 28	Disapproving the Rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to Broadcast Media Ownership	5/15/08
HR 2642	Supplemental Appropriations Bill of 2008	5/15/08
HR 980	Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007	5/13/08
HR 3221	House Amendments to Senate Amendment to H.R. 3221 – Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008	5/6/08
HR 5818	Neighborhood Stabilization Act of 2008	5/6/08
S 2284	Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007	5/6/08
HR 5522	The Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act of 2008	4/29/08
HR 2881	FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007	4/29/08
HR 2830	Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2008	4/23/08
HR 2831	Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007	4/22/08
HR 5613	Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008	4/22/08
HR 5719	Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act of 2008	4/14/08
HR 5351	Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act	2/26/08
S 2636	H.R. 3221-Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007 As amended by S. 2636 - Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008	2/26/08
S 2634	To Require a Report on U.S. Global Strategy to Combat and Defeat Al Qaeda	2/26/08
S 2633	To Provide for the Safe Redeployment of United States Troops from Iraq	2/26/08
HR 5349	To extend the Protect America Act of 2007 for 21 days	2/13/08
HR 5104	To extend the Protect America Act of 2007 for 15 days	1/28/08
S1200	Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2008	1/22/08
HR 2768	Supplemental Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act	1/15/08
110th Congress, 1st Session
HR 2764	Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, and Other Purposes Appropriations Act, 2008 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008)	12/18/07
S 2248	FISA Amendments Act of 2007	12/17/07
HR 6	Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007	12/7/07
HR 4156	Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, 2008	11/14/07
HR 3996	Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007	11/8/07
HR 3355	Homeowners Defense Act	11/6/07
HR 2419	Farm Bill Extension Act of 2007	11/6/07
HR 1495	Water Resources Development Act of 2007	11/2/07
HR 2262	Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007	11/1/07
HR 3920	Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007	10/30/07
HR 3963	Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007	10/25/07
HR 3685	The Employment Non-Discrimination Act	10/23/07
HR 505	Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007	10/22/07
S 1710	Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008	10/17/07
HR 3773	To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes	10/16/07
HR 2102	Providing conditions for the Federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media	10/16/07
HR 2095	Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007	10/10/07
HR 3056	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the authority of the Internal Revenue Service to use private debt collection companies, and for other purposes	10/10/07
HR 2895	National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007	10/9/07
HR 3093	Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008	10/4/07
HR 3246	Regional Economic and Infrastructure Development Act of 2007	10/3/07
HR 2740	MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007	10/3/07
HR 3222	Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2008	10/2/07
HR 928	To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to enhance the independence of the Inspectors General, to create a Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, and for other purposes	10/1/07
HR 3121	Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007	9/26/07
HR 976	Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2007	9/25/07
HR 2881	FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007	9/19/07
S 1275	District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007	9/18/07
HR 2761	Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act of 2007	9/17/07
S 1789	Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008	9/11/07
HR 2764	State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008	9/6/07
S 1645	Military Construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008	9/4/07
HR 3221	New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act	8/3/07
HR 2276	Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act	8/3/07
HR 3159	Ensuring Military Readiness Through Stability and Predictability Deployment Policy Act	8/2/07
HR 3162	The Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007	8/1/07
HR 3161	Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY 2008	7/31/07
S 1893	Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2007	7/30/07
HR 2831	Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007	7/27/07
S 1644	Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008	7/25/07
HR 2419	Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2007	7/25/07
HR 3093	Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008	7/24/07
HR 3074	Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bills, 2008	7/23/07
HR 3043	Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008	7/17/07
HR 2946	To require the Secretary of Defense to commence the reduction of the number of United States Armed Forces in Iraq to a limited presence by April 1, 2008, and for other purposes	7/12/07
S 1547	National Defense Authorization Act, FY 2008	7/10/07
HR 2669	College Cost Reduction Act of 2008	7/10/07
HR 2829	Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, FY 2008	6/26/07
HR 2643	Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY 2008	6/25/07
HR 800	Amending the National Labor Relations Act	6/20/07
HR 2764	State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008	6/19/07
HR 2641	Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY 2008	6/13/07
HR 2642	Military Construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, FY 2008	6/13/07
HR 2638	Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, FY 2008	6/12/07
HR 6	Creating Long-term Energy Alternatives for the Nation (CLEAN) Act	6/12/07
S 5	Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007	6/7/07
HR 2560	Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2007	6/6/07
HR 1252	Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2007	5/23/07
HR 2264	No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2007 (NOPEC)	5/22/07
HR 1585	National Defense Authorization Act, FY 2008	5/16/07
HR 2237	To provide for the redeployment of United States Armed Forces and defense contractors from Iraq	5/10/07
HR 2206	U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007	5/10/07
HR 2207	Agricultural Disaster Assistance and Western States Emergency Unfinished Business Appropriations Act, 2007	5/10/07
HR 1684	Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for FY 2008	5/9/07
HR 1529	Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007	5/3/07
S 1082	Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act	5/1/07
S 3	Medicare Fair Prescription Drug Price Act of 2007	4/17/07
S 372	Intelligence Authorization Act of FY 2007	4/12/07
S 5	Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007	4/10/07
S 965	U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007	3/27/07
HR 1401	Rail and Public Transportation Security Act of 2007	3/27/07
HR 1433	District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007	3/20/07
HR 1591	U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act	3/19/07
SJR 9	United States Policy in Iraq Resolution of 2007	3/14/07
HR 1255	Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007	3/13/07
HR 985	Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2007	3/13/07
HR 720	Water Quality Financing Act of 2007	3/8/07
HR 800	Employee Free Choice Act of 2007	2/28/07
S 4	Improving American's Security Act of 2007	2/28/07
HR 6	Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation (CLEAN) Act	1/17/07
HR 3	Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007	1/11/07
HR 4	Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007	1/11/07

Source: Office of Management and Budget first session and second session Statements of Administration Policy.

Return to the obstruction home page.

The Real Story of the 110th Congress: The Right-Wing Block-And-Blame Game

Kaizad Bhabha — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:53:05 -0800

As the 110th Congress nears its close, the impact of a record-breaking campaign of obstruction by a conservative minority in the Senate is now more clear than ever. The right-wing strategy of "block and blame" has driven the public perception of a "do-nothing Congress." In reality, the 110th Congress would have achieved truly landmark accomplishments—including safely bringing the troops home from Iraq, reducing America's dependence on foreign oil and its contribution to global warming, and funding long-neglected domestic priorities—had it not been for conservative obstruction.

Our October 2008 block-and-blame analysis cuts through the political spin. We document how what is being reported as political stalemate is really the product of a conservative political strategy, both in Congress and the White House, to sabotage the new majority in Congress as it responds to the mandate it received from the American public—even if it means bringing down public support for the entire Congress in the process.

Get the full story:

» Report: "The Real Story of the 110th Congress: The Right-Wing Block-And-Blame Game"

Previous reports and articles:

» Robert Borosage on "The Roots of Obstruction"

» Report: "Block and Blame: The Conservative Strategy of Obstruction in the First Session of the 110th Congress"

» “FILIBUSTERED: How the Right is Obstructing America’s Progress”

» The chart of presidential veto threats and a report on why they matter.

» Voting records of senators who are obstructing or supporting the people's agenda.

» The polling data that shows the popularity of the reforms being blocked.

» The comebacks you can use to rebut conservative talking points on the Iraq war.

» More articles and actions on obstruction

Senate Obstruction Leader

As far back as January 2007, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made it clear that he would assume the role of Senate Obstruction Leader by insisting on a 60-vote supermajority, rather than a simple 50-vote majority, for getting bills through the Senate.

He claims “that’s the ordinary procedure.” But he’s wrong, and we have the proof. The reality is, his abuse of Senate procedures to block the majority will on legislation is unprecedented. McConnell and Senate Republicans like the filibuster now, but they didn’t when Democrats used it more sparingly in the 109th Congress against President Bush’s most extreme judicial nominees. Learn more about McConnell and the Republican filibuster flip-flop »

The Majority Doesn't Count

Source: Secretary of the Senate

As this chart shows, never have so many filibusters been threatened as in the first session of the 110th Congress. In just the first year, Republicans filibustered more legislation, and required more cloture votes to break those filibusters, than in any Congress in recent history. By the time this term ends, Congress could well more than double the number of cloture votes of previous Congresses — including the ones that Republicans controlled and complained of Democratic 'obstruction.'

This is the result of a deliberate effort by the Republican minority to undercut the will of the majority of the American public, expressed when voters placed a Democratic majority in control of both houses of Congress. The filibuster, a procedure unique to the Senate to block an up-or-down vote on legislation unless a 60-vote supermajority agrees to proceed, has been historically used by both parties. But it has never been used as routinely as it has been by Republicans since January 2007.

» Read our up-to-date chart on judicial nominations.

The Plot To Bury Progress

Our cameras caught the conservative mastermind leading obstruction in Congress. Watch the video and pass it on to help revive the fight for progress.