Congress Returns: Democrats Content to Stall

Democrats Content To Stall

Today in Washington, D.C. - September 19 10, 2012:

Congress returns today! Both the Senate and House will reconvene at 2 PM today.  At 5 PM, the Senate will take up the nomination of Stephanie Maria Rose to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa. Following up to 30 minutes of debate, the Senate will vote on the Rose nomination.

It interesting to note that while the Senate under Democrat leadership has failed to move or take actions on bills.  The House has passed 263 bills, the Senate has only passed 66 bills.  Only one bill passed by the Senate failed in the House.  The Senate has delayed action on the majority of the bills passed by the House, including several jobs bills.   In addition they have passed by simple resolution 570 bills.  Signed into law by the president 173 bills.

At 4 PM, the House is schedules to be in session.  Public Notice has identified the following bills / actions to be considered by the House this week:

MONDAY
HR 3397 — Cabin Fee Act of 2011
HR 2706 — Billfish Conservation Act of 2011
HR 6007 — North Texas Zebra Mussel Barrier Act of 2012
HR 2489 — American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act of 2011
HR 2139 — Lions Clubs International Century of Service Commemorative Coin Act
HR 6186 — A bill to require a study of flood insurance options for communities
HR 4264 — FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act of 2012
HR 6122 — Gifts and bequests for the Library of Congress
HR 406 — Amending the Federal Election Campaign Act for procedures in the event of the death of the candidate
H Con Res 132 — Resolution to ensure printing and production of the updated House document “Hispanic Americans in Congress”
HR 6336 — Display a statue of Frederick Douglass in Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center

TUESDAY
HR 4631 — Government Spending Accountability Act of 2012
HR 538 — Federal Customer Service Enhancement Act
HR 4057 — Education opportunities for veterans
HR 4305 — Child and Elderly Missing Alert Program
HR 6215 — A bill to amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to correct an error in the provisions relating to remedies for dilution.
HR 6185 — Local Courthouse Safety Act of 2012
HR 1775 — Stolen Valor Act of 2011
HR 6080 — Improvements in the enactment of title 41, United States Code
HR 2800 — Reauthorizing the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program
HR 6189 — Reporting Efficiency Improvement Act
S 3245 — 3 year extension of the authorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program, the E-Verify Program, and the Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa Waiver Program

WEDNESDAY
HR 6131 — extending cybersecurity and fraud act
S 710 — Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act
HR 5865 — American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2012
HR 3857 — Public Transit Security and Local Law Enforcement Support Act
HR 6028 — No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012
HR 1410 — Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2011
H Res 484 — Resolution on basic human rights in Vietnam
HR 1464 — North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011
H Res 177 — Expressing support for reconciliation and peace in Sri Lanka

THURSDAY
HR 5544 — Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act
HR 5949 — FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012

FRIDAY -  HR 6213 — No More Solyndras Act

Congress has many serious issues to face, but Senate Democrats seem content to continue doing what they’ve done all year: next to nothing. Last week we learned that nearly 400,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force, with the 43^rd straight month of unemployment over 8%. The national debt surpassed $16 trillion. And if nothing is done, the country faces a fiscal cliff in January of massive tax hikes and damaging cuts to defense. Yet there seem to be no plans from Democrats to deal with any of these things and little interest in working on them in Congress.

Senate Republican leadership is already speaking out.  Writing in Politico today, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell points out Democrats’ total lack of solutions. “For four years . . . Democrats in Washington have been preoccupied with spinning self-serving political stories aimed at justifying their own reckless experiment in Big Government and then distracting people from its devastating, real-world consequences. In fact, President Barack Obama recently told CBS that the biggest mistake of his presidency was that he didn’t tell a good enough ‘story to the American people.’ No wonder that, as the federal debt crossed the dizzying $16 trillion mark last week and Americans woke to even more signs of economic failure, Democrats in Charlotte focused on tired slogans and childhood memories. Don’t expect anything more than that before the election. They have nothing else to offer but feel-good accounts of their own personal success.”

Leader McConnell ticks off Democrats’ serial failures: “[W]ith just four months to go before devastating tax hikes are set to fall on every American and disproportionate cuts are about to harm our uniformed military and their families, the president and Democrats in Congress are again planning to put their penchant for storytelling ahead of the responsibilities that come with holding public office. Following the president’s lead, Democrats in Congress refuse to develop the kind of responsible, concrete plan to avert the impending ‘fiscal cliff’ that House Republicans voted on weeks ago. They’d rather crisscross America from now until Election Day, telling voters that these same Republicans are somehow the problem. It’s fiction. Senate Democrats haven’t passed a federal budget in more than three years — a responsibility not just expected of the majority party but required of it by law. Moreover, not a single one had the political courage to vote for the president’s own proposed budget. Republicans had to offer it for them, and then not one member of Congress voted to support it.”

“Democrats have refused to do even the basics. For the first time in more than a half-century, the Democratic-led Senate may not pass a defense authorization bill, while refusing to take up the individual bill that funds our armed forces. Nor is the Senate, under Democratic leadership, expected to pass any other regular appropriations bill this year — actions previously viewed as routine as turning on the lights.”

McConnell summed up Democrats’ empty agenda, “Trying to avoid all responsibility for the problems we face, or the pressing challenges ahead, Democrats have simply sat on their hands, preferring to tell tall tales about what’s happening in Washington rather than doing anything about it. They appear ready to ride out the rest of the year doing virtually nothing about the problems we face as a nation — astronomical debt, a looming tax hike, crippling defense cuts and an anemic recovery that all these things promise to make even worse.”

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