Gridlocked Congress on track for least productive year in history

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/03/congress-least-productive-year-partisan-tensions

Version 0 of 1.

Paralysis in Congress led to a new source of tension between Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday as both sides traded blows over who was to blame for what looks likely to prove the least productive legislative year in US history.

With ten days to go before the House of Representatives adjourns for 2013, speaker John Boehner sought to counter growing criticism of Republican intransigence by blaming the Democrat-controlled Senate for the record dearth of new legislation.

“If you look at the number of bills passed by the House and the paltry number of bills passed by the Senate, you can see where the problem is,” he told reporters outside his party's weekly strategy meeting.

“Under our system of government, both the House and Senate have to do their job. The House continues to do its job; it's time for the Senate to get serious about its.”

But while the House spent its final few days voting on a flurry on minor laws such as legislation governing loose change collected at airports and the threat of guns made with 3-D printers, Boehner hinted that committee talks over the two largest remaining legislative challenges – a farm bill and next year's federal budget – still faced big hurdles.

“I want the farm bill conference to be completed; chairman [Frank] Lucas has made a number of good faith efforts, but Senate Democrats have a problem saying yes,” added Boehner. “We have the same problem when it comes to the budget conference. Chairman [Paul] Ryan has done a very good job of outlining very serious offers but we can't get Senate Democrats to say yes.”

Democratic leaders also sounded a negative note on Tuesday about progress on the crucial budget negotiations, which are aimed at avoiding another government shutdown when current spending authority is exhausted on January 15th.

“They are preventing a big deal by taking so many things off the table,” said Xavier Becerra, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, who called his own news conference to discuss "The Do-Nothing Republican Congress."

Senate budget committee chairman Patty Murray is flying back from Washington state on Tuesday to continue talks with Republican negotiator Ryan throughout the rest of this week and both sides are hopeful of striking a limited deal that would set spending levels and reduce the impact of blanket sequester cuts, but avoid lasting agreement on fiscal priorities. “It is fair to say they are in the final stretch,” one aide close to the talks told The Guardian on Tuesday.

The emerging budget deal would split the difference between Democrat and Republican spending demands, and set spending at around $1tn for 2014, according to a Politico analysis which sources said was broadly accurate.

The deal, which may fix spending for two years, would also relieve some areas such as defence spending from the worst effects of the so-called sequester, which demanded blanket cuts without giving the administration discretion to move funds around.

However, broader Republican aims, such as cutting welfare, or entitlement, programmes appear to have been blocked by left-leaning Democrats who rejected a proposed compromise from the White House.

Senate Democrats counter the crude math of Boehner's argument about who is to blame for the broader deadlock by pointing out that many of the bills passing the House contain unacceptable "poison pills" of this type.

The farm bill, which is also now mired in conference negotiations, contains Republican proposals to cut $40bn from the federal food stamps programme, a measure that both congressional Democrats and the White House have dismissed as unacceptable at a time of continued economic hardship for poorer Americans.

Democrats also point out that the more ambitious legislation attempted in the Senate this year, such as immigration reform, garnered bipartisan support and would probably pass in the House if Boehner allowed a vote.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.