In Congress, There Is A Big Difference Between Bipartisanship And Waving A White Flag As You Cross The Aisle

 

Meet The Blue Dogs and New Dems

Working across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion in an art. Most Democrats in Congress do not have a clue about how it's done. The so-called "Problem Solvers"-- like Third Way and the Blue Dogs and New Dems-- make up the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, colloquially, "the Democraps." They are always the first to rush across the aisle and claim they are thereby bipartisan. Being a coward and having no values is not the same thing as being a smart, skilled bipartisan legislator. That's way over the heads of the conservative Democrats who vote the most frequently with Republicans when progressive issues come to the floor of the House. This dirty dozen is not a list of bipartisan heroes. It is a list of always craven, 100% cowardly, and usually corrupt DINOs.

• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)- 23.46% (R+10)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- 24.69% (R+6)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- 27.16% (R+13)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)-28.40% (R+6)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- 28.40% (R+10)
• Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME)- 34.57% (R+2)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- 39.08% (R+12)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- 39.11% (R+3)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)- 40.02% (D+9)
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- 40.74% (R+1)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)- 41.25% (R+3)
• Abby Finkenauer (secret New Dem-IA)- 41.98% (D+1)

You'll notice that they are voting with the Democrats less than half the time on these crucial roll calls. I've included the PVIs of their districts so you can see how much each one is being pressured by the far right-- from Collin Peterson and Ben McAdams (a lot) to Henry Cuellar and Abby Finkenauer (not one bit).

Many people remember former Orlando Congressman, Alan Grayson as a fervent partisan and they especially remember his iconic Die Quickly-GOP Healthcare speech. But one of the things I always admired most about Grayson was his ability to pass prodigious amounts of legislation with bipartisan support. In fact, the Republicans controlled the House for much of the time Grayson was a member. And he still managed to write and pass more legislation than any other member of that body! I had a long talk with Grayson about this yesterday. He said that he tended to work with people-- regardless of party-- "who gave a shit." If someone cared, he felt there was a way to find some common ground without abandoning any principles or values. This is a small part of what he told me:

On our side the aisle, the political class is resolved to employ focus groups to try to validate meaningless phrases that sound good to them, and then to force-feed them to the electorate through ad-buys that give them their 15%. This resulted in Clinton’s “Stronger Together” motto, which no one understood, much less believed. (And I say that having voted for her, and having wanted her to win.) This sort of tasteless political oatmeal is what makes it hard for ordinary people to identify the Democratic Party with any tangible proposals that might improve their lives, and it creates a vacuum that the other side fills by promising that a Democratic victory would hasten the apocalypse.

But the most flavorless of all this flavorless oatmeal is the abuse of the term “bipartisanship” by, well, people who stand for nothing. Here is a very easy way to judge whether such a sentiment is real or not: has it resulted in any actual legislation? After all, that’s the job of a Member of Congress, according to the Constitution. If you see any actual legislation, then you can argue whether it made the world better or worse, but without that, the term “bipartisanship” is lipless lip service.

In my first term, with the Democrats in charge, I passed the only real bipartisan accomplishment of the 111th Congress, the law to audit the Federal Reserve. In my last two terms, with the Republicans in charge, I passed 121 laws through the House. I also accounted, personally, for ½ of all the amendments passed by the Science Committee, and 1/3 of all the amendments passed by the Foreign Affairs Committee. And EVERY SINGLE ONE of these was “bipartisan”; I couldn’t have passed any of them unless I had GOP votes. Further, in their own ways, every single one of them was progressive. When I passed a law extending mental health benefits to veterans-- after 250,000 of them came back from Afghanistan and Iraq with permanent brain abnormalities you could see with a CAT scan-- that was progressive to me, whatever may have led the GOP to vote for it. That’s real bipartisanship, not the “bipartisanship” that begins and ends with right-wingers calling right-wingers “my esteemed colleague from Whosits.”

Barney Frank had an interesting point to make in this regard-- he constantly reminded others than anonymous polling of Capitol Hill staff named him both the most partisan and the most bipartisan Member of Congress. Or, to put it another way, bipartisanship is judged not by words, but by deeds.

I haven't written much about Jody Hice, a radical Georgia teabagger, since he was first elected to Congress in 2014. In fact, I haven't heard much about him-- until yesterday, when he joined Ted Lieu to co-sponsor a bipartisan bill that's good for Lieu's constituents and good for Hice's constituents and good for the country in general. The transpartisan establishment may not be thrilled with it but it is neither a Republican nor a Democratic bill. The legislation-- the Oversite.gov Authorization Act-- is meant to increase transparency and accountability within the federal government. If passed and signed into law-- presumably by Biden-- it will formally authorize the establishment and maintenance of a website to help the public more easily access reports that have been generated by the independent work of Inspectors General.

In introducing it, Ted said that "Our bill will allow for crucial improvements to be made to Oversight.gov, a central online location for all federal Inspectors General to publish their reports. IGs are critical to rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in our government, and this website will make their findings more accessible to the American people. I am pleased to introduce this bipartisan bill to increase transparency in the IG community."

Hice was obviously proud to let his constituents know he was working in their interest with someone sane. "The inspector general community is on the frontlines in combatting waste, fraud, and abuse across federal agencies on behalf of the American taxpayer. The Oversight.gov Authorization Act is an important step in promoting and protecting the work of inspectors general, enabling the public to view firsthand the need for greater accountability and transparency in our government. This bicameral, bipartisan legislation is a commonsense measure that all of Congress can get behind, and I look forward to working with my colleague Rep. Ted Lieu, as well as Senators Chuck Grassley and Maggie Hassan, in seeing this bill across the finish line."

Previously, Ted and Hice have worked together to safeguard Inspectors General through their bill, the Inspector General Protection Act, which passed the House in July of 2019, to enhance the independence and integrity of IGs. As soon as Trump heard the word "integrity" he sensed the law would be bad for him and told McConnell to shit-can it in the Senate, which he promptly did.

Ted is co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, and he has been coming up with much of the messaging that is destroying the House Republicans this cycle. Like Grayson's description of Barney Frank, Ted is very partisan... and very bipartisan at the same time. Confusing? I asked him about it this morning. "I have always believed that people of good will, intelligence, and patriotism can disagree on policy. I think it's important to try to work in a bipartisan way where possible. I drive my staff crazy sometimes, but I am always asking them to find me a Republican co-lead for our legislative ideas. It is much easier to move legislation through the process if you have bipartisan support from the outset. There are some issues upon which I will most likely never agree with my Republican colleagues. But the truth is there are many issues where there is a fair amount of common ground to be reached. I also try not to let disagreements on one issue impact potential partnerships on other issues. Just because I disagree with a Republican colleague on gun safety or abortion doesn't mean I won't work with them on marijuana legalization or government transparency. I will not compromise on my principals-- but I can search for common ground on good public policy. In my view the key to being a good legislator is being able to tell the difference."