The main event on Capitol Hill this morning was another round of the blame game. Today’s installment was not about who did what, but about who’s done nothing.
While House Republicans were gathering in the Rules Committee to discuss filing a lawsuit against President Obama that is likely to go nowhere, House Democratics stood just outside the Capitol touting legislation to fix the economy -- legislation that will likely never see the light of day. It was government by theater, plain and simple.
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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) took to the podium to unveil their latest legislative agenda, one they claim will help “jumpstart the middle-class economy.”
Some of their legislation includes the “21st Century Make It In America Act,” which is meant to provide tax incentives for creating good paying American jobs and the “CEO/Employee Pay Fairness Act,” which is designed to deny CEOs the ability to claim tax deductions for pay over $1 million unless they increase their employees’ wages.
Democrats also discussed legislation that would allow student loan borrowers to refinance their loans at a lower rate and would increase the role of women in the workplace.
This morning’s appearance by the Democrats was not unlike their weekly “Witness Wednesday” events, which are meant to shine a light on the faces of the long-term unemployed.
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With no ability to advance legislation of their own, Democrats are largely relegated to these media events, which they invariably use to try to embarrass Republicans by pointing out that not much is happening legislatively.
“Republicans are about process. Democrats are about progress,” said Leader Pelosi, blaming the Republicans for stalling creation of good paying jobs in America.
Republicans, no surprise, didn’t skip their own opportunity to point fingers.
House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday morning posted the text of his new column from The National Review, blasting Senate Democrats for inaction.
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“Let’s take a look at the overall numbers as of last week: the House has passed at least 284 bills that the Senate has failed to act on,” he wrote. “It has passed four times as many bills as the Senate. Of the 120 bills President Obama himself has signed into law, only 27 percent came from the Democratic-controlled Senate.”
They may not have accomplished much legislatively, but after Wednesday, members of both parties should have plenty of fresh sound bites to take home with them when they leave town tomorrow for another four-day weekend.
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