"Gridlock is making a big comeback"
So sayeth Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in response to upper-house Dems doing everything they can to slow down passage of legislation in the GOP-dominated Senate. From the NY Times account:
Senate Democrats, shut out of Congressional negotiations on Medicare and other important bills last year, are blocking House-Senate negotiations on other bills unless they are guaranteed a voice in writing the final legislation.
The tactic has infuriated Republicans and contributed to election-year paralysis as the House and Senate struggle to work out compromises needed to make law. The conflict intensified late last week and almost caused a partial shutdown of the Transportation Department.
McConnell, known for being a devotee of gridlock in the past, senses a difference when it's Dems doing the obstructing:
In an interview, Mr. McConnell said the difference [between current efforts and when he used procedures to gum up the works] was that in 1994 he was trying to kill the campaign finance bill outright, in an isolated case, while Democrats now were standing in the way of legislation they say they want to pass.
"They are insisting that `we are going to have it our way or we will not let it go forward,' " Mr. McConnell said. "I think that is a stunning perversion of the democratic process."
And we all know what the Republicans think about "stunning perversions."
Whole thing here. Thanks to reader mac, who pointed toward this in the thread of an another entry.