US Letter: Clashes in US politics never less productive

The US Senate returns from its Thanksgiving break on Monday with the inglorious distinction that this first session of the 113th Congress is the least productive ever as well as the most unpopular.

Congressional records show that fewer than 60 legislative Bills have been passed this year, worse than in 1995 when the newly Republican-controlled Congress put roadblocks in the way of the Clinton administration leading to just 88 laws being passed, a record low since the second World War.

Even the Republican-led 80th Congress in 1947 and 1948, labelled the “Do Nothing Congress” by Democratic president Harry S Truman because of its opposition to his Bills, managed to pass 900.

Today’s Democrat-controlled Senate and Republican-led House of Representatives have clashed continuously – October’s 16-day government shutdown being the most serious collision – neutering the Obama administration’s capacity to enact legislation and make important judicial appointments.

The approval rating of Congress has fallen to 9 per cent, the lowest rating in the 39 years Gallup has polled on the issue. The pollsters have had plenty of fun during this period of political paralysis. One polling company decided to dig a little deeper into public sentiment at the start of this year and found that cockroaches, traffic jams and root canals all beat Congress in the popularity stakes.

Democrats vs Republicans
The gulf between the Democrats and Republicans has never been wider as a result of gerrymandered Congressional districts that maintain Democratic strongholds and in Republican areas force conservative candidates to more extreme positions.

The bitter fights of the past two years, on fiscal matters, on healthcare, over the deadly September 2012 attack on the US diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, have stirred up tensions in an already rancourous political arena.

On the ideological dial, the most conservative Democrat sits some distance away from the most moderate Republican, leaving little or no common ground.

The deepest divisions to have existed in US government in modern times have led to regular reminiscing about the good old days when political adversaries such as Republican president Ronald Reagan and Democratic speaker of the house Tip O’Neill could bridge the ideological divide on important issues of policy and even manage to be cordial while hammering out legislation.

Although they disagreed on basic policies – the size of government, taxes and social welfare – Reagan and O’Neill’s shared lunches, particularly on St Patrick’s Day, that helped build a friendship that greased the legislative wheels of Congress. After one of their long lunches, Reagan wrote in his diary: “It’s Tip’s birthday and we had a good time telling stories – Irish stories.”

Although they shared a table at the Speaker’s traditional St Patrick’s Day lunch in the capitol this year (next to Taoiseach Enda Kenny), the idea of Barack Obama and current House Speaker, Republican John Boehner, sharing the same relationship is almost unimaginable in this febrile political climate.

Defence of record
Boehner defended the legislative record of his lower chamber (though not Congress) this week, while at the same time sticking it to the Democrats. He noted that the House had passed almost 150 Bills this year aimed at creating jobs, softening federal regulations or scaling back Obamacare, all of which were shot down by the Senate.

“Every single one of these Bills have been blocked by Washington Democrats,” he said. “The Senate and the president continue to stand in the way of the people’s priorities.”

Another congressional veteran whose bipartisan spirit is often recalled in this deeply polarised environment is the late Irish-American Democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. His famous quote, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts”, should be recited when congressional debates become too heated these days.

A John F Kennedy loyalist who was for a time part of Richard Nixon’s inner circle, Moynihan is from New York, the grandson of a Co Kerry immigrant. He played to both sides of the aisle as a political pragmatist to push through policies, although granted politics was less tribal than it is now.

"Moynihan didn't come down on one side or the other," said former New York Times journalist Steve Weisman who published a lively compilation of Moynihan's letters and musings in 2010. "He was a great defender of Medicare and entitlement programmes but, on the other hand, he was the patron saint of right-wing Republicans because he spoke of the dangers of government dependency. He did talk out of both sides of his mouth; he saw an essential tension in American politics," said Weisman, who is now at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

As Democrats and Republicans must find agreement to fund the US government beyond January 15th to avoid another political crisis, the rival tribes could learn from Moynihan’s approach to political deal-making. It may even make this Congress more productive and popular.