News · Press Release

The First 100 Days of the Republican-led Congress: A Study in Dysfunction

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As we approach the 100th day of the Republican-led Congress, it’s clear that House Republicans have been without a clear agenda, and more interested in scoring political points than putting forward real solutions. Speaker Boehner has already proven over and over again that he can barely manage his unruly caucus, having just barely dragged his budget proposal through the House. With several major legislative issues coming to a head in the coming weeks, there is no evidence that House Republicans have a plan to avoid careening from crisis to crisis.

“This 100 days milestone highlights that House Republicans across the country will have to answer for their party’s wrong priorities,” said Matt Thornton of the DCCC. “From their willingness to threaten Department of Homeland Security funding, to their passage of a reckless, irresponsible budget proposal, House Republicans have used the first 100 days of Congress to make a clear statement – special interests over everyday Americans.”

Background:

Choice

Headline: New York Times: “Objections by Women Open Rift in G.O.P.” [New York Times, 1/22/15]

Headline: Politico: “GOP stumbles over abortion bill.” [Politico, 1/21/15]

Headline: Cosmopolitan: “After the House GOP Pulls One Abortion Bill, It Passes Another.” [Cosmopolitan, 1/22/15]

Headline: International Business Times: House GOP Meltdown: Abortion, Border, Homeland Security Bills In Trouble.” [International Business Times, 1/29/15]

Headline: Vox: “Republican leadership pulls anti-abortion bill that was tearing the caucus apart.” [Vox, 1/21/15]

Headline: CNN: “House GOP leaders cave on abortion bill.” [CNN, 1/22/15]

House Republicans Forced To Drop 20-Week Abortion Ban Legislation After Outcry. “Stop reading if you’ve heard this before: House Republicans had to make late-night, last-minute changes to a piece of legislation that they thought would pass easily. This time, the disagreement was over rape and abortion. Republican leadership late Wednesday evening had to completely drop its plans to pass a bill that bans abortions after 20 weeks, and is reverting to old legislation that prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions. The evening switch comes after a revolt from a large swath of female members of Congress, who were concerned about language that said rape victims would not be able to get abortions unless they reported the incident to authorities.” [Politico, 1/21/15]

DHS Shutdown/Immigration Fight

Headline: Washington Post Editorial: “On Homeland Security funding, Republicans govern without logic.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 2/23/15]

Headline: The Hill: “GOP struggles with DHS strategy.” [The Hill, 2/9/15]

Headline: Politico: “GOP lawmakers clash over shutdown.” [Politico, 2/24/15]

Headline: Roll Call: “House GOP in Holding Pattern on Funding DHS.” [Roll Call, 2/24/15]

Headline: Bloomberg: “Boehner in Tug-of-War With McConnell Over Funding Strategy.” [Bloomberg, 2/10/15]

Headline: AP: “Congress stuck on Homeland Security funding, immigration.” [AP, 2/5/15]

Headline: Washington Post: “Republicans split on DHS funding, edging closer to partial agency shutdown.” [Washington Post, 2/23/15]

Headline: The Hill: “House Says, Senate Says: GOP Split on Next DHS Move.” [The Hill, 2/10/15]

Headline: The Hill: “Will Boehner risk the Tea Party’s wrath over DHS funding?” [The Hill, 2/24/15]

Headline: Politico: “House, Senate on DHS impasse: ‘After you.’” [Politico, 2/5/15]

Headline: Politico: “A monumental test for John Boehner.” [Politico, 2/25/15]

Boehner & McConnell Have Not Spoken For Two Weeks. According to Washington Post reporter Sean Sullivan, “Boehner told rank and file Republicans he has not spoken to McConnell in two weeks, according to members exiting this morning’s meeting.” [Twitter, 2/25/15]

GOP Senator: “It Seems Like McConnell And Boehner Aren’t Even Talking To Each Other . . . It Is Mind-Boggling.” Reported Politico in February 2015, “After Senate Democrats repeatedly blocked the bill from even reaching a debate, McConnell said earlier this month that the next step was “up to” the House. But Boehner pushed back, saying it was in the Senate’s hands, feeding the perception in the Capitol that the two leaders failed to conceive of a plan out of the logjam from the onset. ‘It seems like McConnell and Boehner aren’t even talking to each other,’ one veteran GOP senator said. ‘It is mind-boggling.’” [Politico, 2/24/15]

Politico: Boehner & GOP Leadership Face “Monumental Test That Could Have Major Implications For The Republican Party And Their Own Political Future.” Reported Politico in February 2015, “With the Department of Homeland Security set to shut down in less than 72 hours, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership team face a monumental test that could have major implications for the Republican Party and their own political future.” [Politico, 2/25/15]

Budget Showdown

Headline: New York Times Editorial: “The House Budget Disaster.” [New York Times, 3/18/15]

Headline: New York Times: “Chasm Grows Within G.O.P. Over Spending.” [New York Times, 3/15/15]

Headline: Politico: “Senate GOP blasts House plan to boost defense budget.” [Politico, 3/17/15]

Headline: Wall Street Journal: “Republicans Spar Over Military Spending Contingency Fund.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/17/15]

Headline: New York Times: “Senate Budget Rejects House Bid to Skirt Military Spending Caps.” [New York Times, 3/18/15]

Headline: National Journal: “The House GOP’s Trust Deficit.” [National Journal, 3/19/15]

Headline: Roll Call: “House Republicans Stymied Over Own Budget.” [Roll Call, 3/19/15]

Headline: National Journal: “Yet Again, House Republicans Are Stuck.” [National Journal, 3/18/15]

Headline: Washington Post: “Congressional GOP struggles to approve budgets, signaling trouble ahead.” [Washington Post, 3/19/15]

Headline: AP: “GOP Cuts Medicare, Food Stamps In New Budget Blueprint.” [AP, 3/16/15]

Headline: Washington Post Editorial: “The GOP’s fiscal phonies.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 3/17/15]

House GOP Bill Includes Even Deeper Cuts Than Previous Ryan Budget. “Price’s 146-page bill, ‘A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America,’ would balance one year earlier than Ryan’s proposal from last year. The report on the budget did not itemize cuts, but said it would reduce $400 billion in spending from Ryan’s budget, with the cuts coming from mandatory spending, consolidating programs, streamlining regulations and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, according to Price’s report. The shorter timeframe is intended to win support from conservatives who saw the 10-year window as too long.” [The Hill, 3/17/15]

Veteran GOP Budget Expert: “It’s Not Congress Versus The President. It’s Republicans Versus Republicans.” “’This split is going to become the highlight’ of spending skirmishes this year, said Steve Bell, a veteran GOP budget hand who is now senior director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. ‘It’s not Congress versus the president. It’s Republicans versus Republicans.’” [Wall Street Journal, 3/17/15]

Sen. Lindsey Graham, On Defense Spending Conflict: “This Is A War Within The Republican Party.” “The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military. ‘This is a war within the Republican Party,’ said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has vowed to oppose a final budget that does not ensure more military spending. ‘You can shade it any way you want, but this is war.’” [New York Times, 3/15/15]

National Journal: “Another Rocky Week For The Party Leadership.” “Once again for the House GOP, it came down to miscommunication, mistrust, and a bad whip count. Capping another rocky week for the party leadership, the House Budget Committee eked out a spending blueprint Thursday morning despite a late-night stalemate pitting leaders against one of their own chairmen in a fight about how to fund the Pentagon.” [National Journal, 3/19/15]

New York Times Editorial: House GOP Budget’s “Deep Cuts Land Squarely On The People Who Most Need Help: The Poor And The Working Class.” “The plan’s deep cuts land squarely on the people who most need help: the poor and the working class. The plan also would turn Medicare into a system of unspecified subsidies to buy private insurance by the time Americans who are now 56 years old become eligible. And it would strip 16.4 million people of health insurance by repealing the Affordable Care Act (the umpteenth attempt by Republicans to do so since the law was enacted in 2010).” [Editorial, New York Times, 3/18/15]

Washington Post Editorial: House GOP Budget “Serves No Particular Purpose Except To Demonstrate The Inadequacy Of Pure, No-Tax-Increases GOP Policy Doctrine.” “In the face of these challenges, the majority-Republican House has produced a budget blueprint that serves no particular purpose except to demonstrate the inadequacy of pure, no-tax-increases GOP policy doctrine. To be sure, the document calls for an essentially balanced budget by 2025, which would reduce debt held by the public to 55 percent of GDP. It achieves this, however, entirely by cutting scheduled spending by $5.5 trillion , the largest chunk of which would be a $2 trillion 10-year savings from repealing the Affordable Care Act — which is neither sensible nor politically feasible.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 3/17/15]

On Deck

Republican Congress To Face Series Of “Do-Or-Die Votes” – “Some Of The Biggest Fights Of This Congress Are Queued Up For The Weeks And Months Ahead.” “A new day? It’s a little too soon to tell, but curious Capitol Hill watchers can take solace in this: There will be no shortage of drama in the months ahead. Over the next seven months, Congress faces a healthy handful of do-or-die votes—the kind of must-pass legislation that has bedeviled Washington in recent years. As Al Hunt notes in his latest column, it’s not as if the folks that have given Boehner problems in the past have up and left the building. Some of the biggest fights of this Congress are queued up for the weeks and months ahead. There will be cliffs, and there may yet be some diving off of them. From funding for the plane you fly in and the roads you drive on, to how much access the National Security Agency has to your metadata, to whether the U.S. can pay all of its bills, 2015 is just getting started.” [Bloomberg, 4/1/15]

Congress Will Have To Address Highways Bill, PATRIOT Act, Export-Import Bank, Government Funding & Debt Ceiling. “House Speaker John Boehner successfully led his restive members through a series of tough budget and spending votes. Great news, right? Sure. Until you look at rest of the calendar. . . . Here’s a rundown of what’s on tap:

May 31:

The Highway Trust Fund expires.

June 1:

Key provisions of the U.S.A. Patriot Act expire.

June 30:

The Export-Import Bank’s authorization expires.

Oct. 1:

Current funding for U.S. government expires.

Sometime in October:

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this is around the time the U.S. will reach the debt ceiling.” [Bloomberg, 4/1/15]





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