 huntml
join:2002-01-23
Mullica Hill, NJ
2 edits | reply to Z80A
Re: Comcast best watch their step said by Z80A:It's not hard to build filibuster proof consensus when you have compromise. Bipartisan opposition is alive & well. When it happens it speaks to problems in the legislation, not gridlock in general. This may have been true in the past, say, pre-Gingrich, but I can't think of any really difficult, substantive legislation that has passed in the last 15 years or so that has passed on a truly bipartisan basis.
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Come up with a common sense regulatory bill and it would easily pass.
Maybe, if 'common sense' is defined as 'passing the muster of the major industry lobbies that are affected.' These days, the lobbyists practically right any reform bills that get to the floor, or haven't you noticed?
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Take the my way or the highway I'll do what I want damn the will of people people approach and you will have to resort to extortion, bribery and parliamentary tricks to ram through a disastrous bill.
I can hardly think of any really substantive piece of reform legislation that has passed without some arm-twisting, going back to the trust-busting days of the early part of the 20th century. IIRC Clinton even had to invoke reconciliation to pass his welfare reform bill, which was a *strong* compromise bill by any objective measure (so much so that he came close to losing the left wing of his own party), yet the Republicans still almost blocked it. Similarly with Bush's education reform bill -- I don't think it needed reconciliation to pass but it was still very close for what was very much a compromise bill, it certainly didn't pass easily. |
