Capitol Pas de Deux: One Party Leads, and the Other ...
By CARL HULSE
New York Times
WASHINGTON — When Republicans had the House majority, party leaders used to game out tactics that they thought the Democrats might use to gum up the legislative works. To their surprise, one of them recounted recently, they always came up with more devious ideas than anything the Democrats actually tried.
Now Republicans are in the minority, and they have been using skills honed while they were in charge, throwing up procedural roadblocks, forcing vulnerable Democrats to take difficult votes and just generally harrying members of the majority as it tries to nail down a few prizes, some of them sought since the Democrats took over in January.
The Republicans’ ability to thwart the Democrats, along with some missteps and false starts by the fledgling majority, has led to what even some top Democrats concede is a messy finale, with significant work remaining to be completed in a few days or pushed into next year.
Other factors are at work, as well, including one fundamental difference that lawmakers of both parties say lies at the heart of their competing philosophies. Many Republicans are proudly antigovernment and are perfectly comfortable standing in the way of measures that they see as too expansive or costly, even at the risk of being called obstructionists.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
WASHINGTON — When Republicans had the House majority, party leaders used to game out tactics that they thought the Democrats might use to gum up the legislative works. To their surprise, one of them recounted recently, they always came up with more devious ideas than anything the Democrats actually tried.
Now Republicans are in the minority, and they have been using skills honed while they were in charge, throwing up procedural roadblocks, forcing vulnerable Democrats to take difficult votes and just generally harrying members of the majority as it tries to nail down a few prizes, some of them sought since the Democrats took over in January.
The Republicans’ ability to thwart the Democrats, along with some missteps and false starts by the fledgling majority, has led to what even some top Democrats concede is a messy finale, with significant work remaining to be completed in a few days or pushed into next year.
Other factors are at work, as well, including one fundamental difference that lawmakers of both parties say lies at the heart of their competing philosophies. Many Republicans are proudly antigovernment and are perfectly comfortable standing in the way of measures that they see as too expansive or costly, even at the risk of being called obstructionists.
(Continued here.)
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