Thursday, February 25, 2010
Junior Duck Stamp 2009-2010 (artist: Lily Spang)
For once it’s not just Republicans accused of being obstructionists. Democrats in the House are fed up with their counterparts in the Senate as much as the GOP over the fact that nearly 300 bills are stalled in the upper house. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insists Republicans are the problem, other members of her caucus say the problem began long before Senate Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority with the election of Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) has accused the Senate of being out of touch, according to The Hill. “[Senators] tend to see themselves as a House of Lords and they don’t seem to understand that those of us that go out there every two years stay in touch with the American people,” Clyburn told Fox News Radio. “We tend to respond to them a little better.”
Among the 290 bills stuck in the Senate are those relating to healthcare reform, financial reform, climate change, renewable energy and food safety, as well as seemingly uncontroversial bills, such as:
- The Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act,
- The Captive Primate Safety Act,
- Establishing a national cemetery for veterans in the southern Colorado region,
- The Homes for Heroes Act to provide housing for very low-income veteran families,
- The National Bombing Prevention Act,
- The Reducing Over-Classification Act
- The Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program Reauthorization
- Requiring a list on the VA website of organizations providing scholarships for veterans
- The National Women’s History Museum Act
And, last but not least,
- The Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program Reauthorization Act
-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff
Senate Sitting on 290 Bills Already Passed by House; Tension Mounts (by J. Taylor Rushing, The Hill)
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