GOP obstructionism/politics as usual

Here is the draft of an opinion I wrote on GOP obstructionism that was published in today’s Daily Cougar.  I’m posting the draft instead of the final published version because important info was cut due to space concerns in the paper, which obviously aren’t a worry on the interwebs:

During his State of the Union address last Wednesday, President Obama asked Congress to pass pay-as-you-go—or PAYGO—requirements which would require spending increases to be balanced by either tax increases or budget cuts elsewhere.

A PAYGO rule was in place during the Clinton administration and contributed to this nation’s first budget surplus in decades but was allowed to expire in 2002.  Reinstating PAYGO would be an important first step in reining in out-of-control spending and reducing the deficit.

Given the Republican Party’s continued railing against fiscal recklessness this should have been a measure they supported.  However, in a vote on PAYGO requirements the following day, Republicans dropped all pretenses of fiscal responsibility and universally opposed the measure, which passed on a 60-40 party-line vote.

Later that day, before a vote to increase the statutory debt limit, Republican Senator and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee Judd Gregg rose in opposition, saying “[i]t is not responsible to raise the debt ceiling in this manner if you’re not going to put in place any responsible activity to bring under control the rising debt.”

That’s right; the Republican’s most senior member on the budget committee spoke out against raising the debt limit without taking measures to rein in the debt mere hours after his party voted unanimously against doing just that.

This is yet another in a long line of events demonstrating that the Republicans have abandoned any sense of responsibility to act as a loyal opposition in favor of blatant obstructionism.  They feel that it’s more important to prevent the Democrats from accomplishing anything (failures they can then use to their advantage in campaigns) than it is to work with the Democrats constructively to help the American people.

It is understandable that members of an opposition party would not agree with everything the majority party desires, but there used to be a day where the majority and the minority parties would come together with good intentions and work out compromises to benefit the American people.  Though Republicans still claim to be willing to work with Democrats, their actions show otherwise as this latest vote on PAYGO illustrates.

Similar obstructionism is evident on every issue Congress has faced in the last year and Senate Republicans are threatening filibusters on everything.  There have already been 83 cloture votes in the Senate, obliterating the old record of 61 cloture votes during the 107^th Congress.  There are projected to be 134 cloture votes by the end of this congressional term.

A loyal opposition is vital to the functioning of any democracy.  They are needed to keep the ambitions of the majority party in check and to make sure the interests of all Americans are represented in legislation.  Any good democracy requires a balanced diversity of views from every end of the political spectrum.  The minority party has a duty to work with the majority constructively to solve the many issues our nation faces.

The Republicans have abandoned this duty.  They’ve demonstrated not only that they are unfit to lead, but that they are unfit to hold office period.  Their obstructionism threatens the needed influence of conservative ideas in our political discourse and they are effectively destroying conservatism.

It is time for them to go.  We need a new conservative party with ideas about how to address the problems our country faces today that is willing to work with others for the benefit of the American people.

update: After further research, it appears the PAYGO legislation is largely useless.  It obviously was never meant to apply to non-discretionary spending, which is the greatest contributor to the deficit and grows significantly every year, however it seems that discretionary spending is excluded as well.  It seems the vote was just a political maneuver to make it look like the Dems were trying to be fiscally responsible.

This hardly lets Republicans off the hook however.  Everything in the op-ed about their obstructionism remains true.  They’re not any more concerned with fiscal responsibility or the well-being of Americans than the Democrats are.  We need representatives concerned with doing what’s right, not with winning elections.  Unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s impossible given our political system.

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