(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)At first glance, it looks like the House of Representatives has been busy and accomplished quite a bit this year. After all we’ve passed 179 bills, however on further examination only 53 have been signed into law by the president.
Regrettably Speaker Pelosi and her staff have insisted on only highly partisan legislation that they knew would be D.O.A. in the Senate. I say the Speaker and her staff because she has even stonewalled her own Democrat colleagues.
Rank and file Democrats are fed-up with her tactics of excluding them from discussions of what bills should get a floor vote.
Rather than actually passing workable bills, she has used valuable time for partisan messaging opportunities, focused more on her own political agenda than the American people’s. So we now enter the final stretch of 2020 having accomplished very little, and the blame rests squarely on Speaker Pelosi’s shoulders.
The outset of the coronavirus outbreak should have been a turning point for Congress to abandon partisanship and instead see our country through this unforeseen crisis. That however wouldn’t have fit Speaker Pelosi’s narrative as Rahm Emanuel famously stated “[of] never let[ting] a serious crisis go to waste.”
The outset of the coronavirus outbreak should have been a turning point for Congress to abandon partisanship and instead see our country through this unforeseen crisis. That however wouldn’t have fit Speaker Pelosi’s narrative as Rahm Emanuel famously stated “[of] never let[ting] a serious crisis go to waste.”
And if Republicans had any doubts about Democrats’ intentions, Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn even stated the pandemic “is an opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.” The 1958 book You can trust the Communists theorized you could trust the communists because they would tell you exactly what they were going to do.
In this case, you can trust the Democrats because they told us exactly what they were going to do. True to form, their latest COVID-19 relief bill is a $3.4 trillion package of Democrat-Socialist pipe dreams that were written behind closed doors with zero input from Republicans and little if any from the Democrats.
Speaker Pelosi has refused to budge during negotiations with the Administration. As I mentioned in last week’s Long’s Short Report, they continue to delay replenishing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) despite its overwhelming success.
Americans living paycheck to paycheck are still struggling, yet Democrats have no sense of urgency and are only willing to pass COVID-relief bills if they include multi-billion-dollar provisions that carve out funding for sanctuary cities or a complete overhaul of our election process.
Restaurants are a prime example as at first they were required to shutter their businesses and then allowed to open at only 25% to 50% of occupancy which is a losing proposition.
If we don’t get another round of PPP Loans to them and fast you can expect 35% of them to close permanently. Think of the restaurants in your town - now think that in a few months 35% of your favorite spots will fail to exist.
Congress has also failed to deliver critical funding for traditionally bipartisan issues like transportation and infrastructure. I’ve said all along that an infrastructure package is something that could be done in a bipartisan fashion, and President Trump agrees and wants to sign a bill into law.
Congress has also failed to deliver critical funding for traditionally bipartisan issues like transportation and infrastructure. I’ve said all along that an infrastructure package is something that could be done in a bipartisan fashion, and President Trump agrees and wants to sign a bill into law.
Instead, House Democrats passed a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure bill littered with tens of billions of dollars in Green New Deal priorities that would create a maze of bureaucratic red tape and shift money away from rural areas. After it passed it went straight into the circular file in the Senate. Once again, Democrats chose to forgo bipartisanship for presumed political gain.
But at least House Democrats have been consistent; all of their partisan messaging bills have put their own political interests first and would have saddled generations of Americans to come with insurmountable debt. Congressional Democrats appear unphased by our rising national debt, blocking
But at least House Democrats have been consistent; all of their partisan messaging bills have put their own political interests first and would have saddled generations of Americans to come with insurmountable debt. Congressional Democrats appear unphased by our rising national debt, blocking
Republicans’ attempt to pass an annual budget and forcing Congress to pass temporary stopgap continuing resolutions to keep the government funded instead. Their radical ideas and aversion to bipartisanship has inhibited our ability to govern and challenged the integrity of Congress.
As we finish this year and begin a new term in January, I will continue to work with my colleagues to deliver measured relief to the American people, pass pro-growth and fiscally responsible legislation, and fight against any efforts to delay or derail the Great American Comeback.
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