At the end of last year, there were a number of stories declaring that this was the “worst Congress ever,” the “least productive Congress in history,” a “do-nothing Congress,” or worse. The stories would then usually go on and site lack of legislation passed into law, blather on about Republican/Tea Party partisanship, use the shutdown as the shining example of supposed Republican obstructionism, and basically blame Republicans for what’s wrong with Congress (and America for that matter.)
I have a different point of view. The person most responsible for preventing things from getting done in Congress, is Harry Reid of Nevada. He happens to be the Majority Leader in the United States Senate, and has been since 2007. And he has single-handedly (although of course with the approval of Barack Obama) virtually shut the place down.
A few examples. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed dozens of jobs bills over the past few years. Harry Reid has not let one of them see the light of day in the Senate.
The House has time and again attempted to approve construction of the Keystone Pipeline, which would mean tens of thousands of American jobs. Harry Reid won’t even allow the Senate to vote on it.
The House has voted to deep-six Obamacare’s medical devices tax, which is expensive, and a jobs killer. Harry Reid says, in effect, no way I’m allowing a vote on that; it might pass.
And most recently, the House voted overwhelmingly, and with the support of a slew of House Democrats, to impose additional sanctions on Iran. Again, Harry Reid, knowing that many Senate Democrats would vote with Republicans, won’t even allow the measure to come up for a vote.
It’s truly shameful.
The only realistic way of ending Harry Reid’s stranglehold on the U.S. Senate, is to topple him from power. And that can only be accomplished by electing at least six more Republicans to the Senate this fall.
There are more than enough vulnerable Democrats in the Senate this year to make that possible. Let’s not blow a golden opportunity this time, as unfortunately occurred over the last two election cycles.
In order to end Congress’s due-nothingness, we’ve got to end the reign of Harry Reid.
