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“What The Republicans Failed To Accomplish”: Vital Tasks The House Did Not Address Before Taking An Unnecessary Recess

Many House members were at the airport yesterday, desperate to begin their five-week vacation, when the chamber’s leadership called them back. An emergency bill to provide money for the humanitarian crisis at the Southern border had earlier been pulled from the floor because of objections from the hard right; now some Republicans wanted to try again.

“You can’t go home!” Representative Blake Farenthold of Texas said, according to the Washington Post. That would send a terrible message to President Obama: “You’re right, we’re a do-nothing Congress.”

Sorry, congressman. That message had already been broadcast long before the House tripped over its own divisions on the border bill. The failure of this Congress (principally the House) to perform the most basic tasks of governing is breathtakingly broad. Though members did manage to pass a bill overhauling the Department of Veterans Affairs, here is a catalog of the vital tasks the House was unable to accomplish before taking an unnecessary recess:

• Passing a full slate of appropriations bills for the 2015 fiscal year, or a continuing resolution to keep the government open past Sept. 30.
• Passing a long-term transportation bill. (The one approved this week expires in 10 months, and is full of gimmicks made necessary by the failure to raise the gas tax.)
• Passing comprehensive immigration reform.
• Renewing the Export-Import Bank and terrorism risk insurance.
• Raising the minimum wage.
• Extending unemployment insurance.
• Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban discrimination in hiring on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help ensure that women are paid equally to men.
• Fixing the Voting Rights Act after it was gutted by the Supreme Court.
• Passing any form of legislation to impose background checks on gun buyers.
• Passing any long-term legislation to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

But there is one thing House Republicans did enthusiastically before packing their bags: They voted to sue the president for taking executive actions they disliked — actions that were necessary because Republicans failed to do their jobs.

By: David Firestone, Taking Note, The Editorial Page Editors Blog, The New York Times, August 1, 2014

August 2, 2014 - Posted by raemd95 | Congress, House Republicans | Blake Farenthold, ENDA, Gun Control, Humanitarian Crisis, Immigration Reform, Minimum Wage, Paycheck Fairness Act, Transportation Bill, Unemployment insurance, Voting Rights Act