Posted on 01/16/2014 1:29:35 PM PST by EBH
Brookings Institution scholars, inspired by baseball statistics, conducted an analysis of the 113th Congress that points rather directly at the Democrat-controlled Senate as a the locus of congressional gridlock.
The analysis opens with the observation that the House, contrary to expectation, passed twice as many bills as the Senate in 2013. Why? Because of the Senate committee process.
"When we look at this category, then, we begin to understand where the problem lies: even in the traditionally collegial Senate, 87 percent of bills die in committee," Molly Jackman and Saul Jackman, of Brookings, and Brian Boessenecker write in Politico. "While the filibuster may grab all the headlines, committees are a far deadlier weapon."
That observation undermines the conventional wisdom about Republican opposition to President Obama causing gridlock. (even taking into account the statement from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said in 2009 that "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.")
Filibusters are the weapon of last resort for a Senate minority, in terms of procedural maneuvers they can use to block a bill's passage. Committees, on the other hand, are run by the majority party. The chairman's gavel is a hammer that Democrats can use to kill Republican proposals.
One countervailing point against the idea that the committees account for the gridlock: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has the authority to bypass the committee process and bring legislation to the Senate floor for a vote -- which he does on controversial issues...
(Excerpt) Read more at m.washingtonexaminer.com ...
DUH - - - .
Interesting that Brookings, a fairly in the tank lefty outfit, is saying this.
I’m really puzzled over why this has been allowed to come out. What’s their game?
That is what I was thinking. I wonder why they are publishing this now?
No surprise here. I imagine this has been the Democratic plan from the start, and then blame Republicans...
Agreed. Wondering what their upside is too this?
What's the matter, don't they know what Harry Reidtard looks like?
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