Triumph of the 111th Congress

(David Horsey)

"Triumph" isn't normally a word I associate with Congress, but this title belongs to David Horsey, not me. And he makes some good points:

With public approval of Congress hovering at 13 percent in the Gallup Poll, it is not easy to find anyone to sing praises of the 111th Congress. So, I'll do it myself.

Let's start with the much-maligned bailouts and stimulus bills.

The bank bailouts were distasteful because they rewarded many of the reckless financiers who dragged us into the economic morass of 2007-08. The alternative, though, was to let the banks sink and, since we are all on the same creaking ship, we would have gone down with them. It was a nasty choice, but the right one.

The bailout of the American auto industry is more easily praised. It saved about a million American jobs and preserved vital manufacturing capacity that is otherwise disappearing from our national economy.

And overlooked by Tea Party critics who complained that the bailouts spiked the federal debt is the fact that the loans are already mostly paid back.

As for the stimulus, some say the stimulus bill failed to stimulate. This is a debatable point. Proving the positive impact of the stimulus money relies on projections of how much worse off we would have been if it had not been injected into the economy. One unquestioned aspect of the stimulus was that it gave a hefty tax cut to the middle class – something Democrats forgot to brag about during the 2010 congressional campaign.

Then, famously – or, for some people, infamously – the 111th Congress passed health care reform after a year of invective and vituperation. "Obamacare," which some call socialism and others call Bob Dole's Republican health care plan, will finally provide affordable access to medical services for nearly every American citizen, a goal that has stood just out of reach since it was first proposed by President Theodore Roosevelt a century ago.

It is not a perfect scheme, but, as provisions of the health care plan kick into gear over the next few years, Americans will begin to wonder – as they have with Medicare – why it took so long to get it.

After that, despite the objections of Republicans who seemed to think there was no reason to clamp down on the casino that Wall Street has become, Democrats approved moderate regulations to govern the out-of-control financial markets. They also passed legislation that, for the first time, creates a government agency to advocate for consumers. Republicans didn't like that one, either.

OK, anything that the Republicans dislike can't be too bad. So maybe Congress did accomplish some good things. But I'll point out that the bank bailout happened before Obama took office. Yeah, it was still mostly the same Democrats in Congress who passed it - less willing than Republicans to cut off their own nose to spite their face, when instead they could rescue the American economy from complete collapse. Huh! Fancy that!

The failure of Democrats to sell all this good news to voters demonstrates how liberals have not developed an effective response to the agenda-setting power of the right wing media machine. From conservative talk radio and FOX News to the reactionary blogosphere and powerhouse Republican political operatives, the right dominates the public debate with a loud and relentless message unrestrained by tethers to reality.

As a result, Democrats ran away from their achievements, took a drubbing in the fall election, gave up control of the House and lost a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Despite this, instead of slinking off into a quiet corner, the 111th Congress went out with a bang.

A controversial tax deal was reached that gave Republicans what they wanted – big tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans – but, to the surprise of many, also gave Democrats some rewards, including extension of unemployment benefits and a reduction in the payroll tax. The tax package did one very bad thing, of course: the government deficit was increased by many billions of dollars. But blame for this will go to both parties while, at least for now, President Obama is reaping the political reward. This is an infuriating result for Republican leaders who hoped to block the Democratic president from achieving anything that might improve his re-election prospects.

In fact, the Party of No had a terrible time snatching any victories from Obama in the lame duck session of Congress. Most significantly, conservative ranks were shattered by the quick passage of a bill repealing the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell rule. Two years after Obama promised he would end the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces, the 111th Congress was able to deliver.

And, as I write this, the Senate appears to be on the verge of approving START, the nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, one of the president's chief foreign policy goals. That grating sound you hear is Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell grinding his teeth in bitter frustration.

Democrats should take pride in what was accomplished over the last two years and quibblers on the left ought to stop whining about not getting all that they desired. In an era of political gridlock and polarization, it is rather amazing that so much could get done.

OK, yes, this lame duck Congress has been impressive. If the Democrats had been this determined the past year and a half, I wouldn't have been so disgusted with them. But as Horsey points out, they did run away from their own record before the election. And I still can't believe they didn't split the tax question, before the election, and force Republicans to vote specifically on cutting taxes on the rich.

And now, well, things are going to get really, really bad for America in the next Congress. After all, the only reason the lame duck session is accomplishing anything is because they've got Democrats and Republicans alike who have nothing to lose. I guess you're more willing to do the right thing when you've already lost your re-election bid, huh?

The 112th Congress will be different. With the hand of Senate Republicans enhanced and a GOP majority in the House, the next two years will be a rough and bitter struggle between Democrats trying to protect what has been gained and Republicans, driven by a fresh cohort of tea partyers in their caucus, fighting to take back lost ground. It will not be pretty.

Before that battle begins, Democrats need to do one last thing. On the first day of the 112the Congress – and on that day only – it will take only 51 votes to change the rules of the 100-member Senate. Democrats should seize that opportunity to alter the rules governing the filibuster. Where once the filibuster was employed only infrequently, it is now used routinely to block any significant legislation in the Senate that lacks 60 votes.

Minority rule needs to end. The filibuster has become a weapon too easily put in the service of narrow ideology.

Sorry, but Horsey won't sucker me that easily. I'll believe it when I see it. It's long past due, and we've missed a huge opportunity by letting the filibuster continue this long (and by not investigating and prosecuting the Bush Administration for their crimes, though that's a separate question), but I guess better late than never. If the Democrats actually find the nerve to do it.

I wouldn't mind a real filibuster, one that took an actual effort to accomplish. But not this wimped down version. Republicans claim that they will filibuster, but they don't actually have to do anything. So of course they've begun to filibuster everything.

And with the GOP in control of the House, the next two years are almost certain to be worse than the last two. I rate Congress low because the Republicans have been insane and the Democrats cowardly. Well, Republicans aren't getting any saner - just the reverse, in fact. And I won't believe the Democrats are actually growing a spine until they show me a lot more evidence of that.

I guess we'll see.