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The Bills
to Nowhere
June 7, 2012
This is now the pattern of
business in the House of Representatives: Spend most of the time passing bills
designed not to become law but to satisfy the ideological desires of
conservative voters. And block laws that actually need to get passed.
This colossal waste of time,
punctuated by moments of real destruction, has been going on since early last
year, and is well-illustrated this month. The House voted Thursday to repeal
crucial parts of the health care reform law, and an upcoming bill would make
government regulation virtually impossible. None of these bills have a chance
of enactment. In the meantime, though, House Republicans won’t bring up a
desperately needed transportation bill.
Political-message bills have
sprouted like weeds in the last few years, the product of extreme polarization
and stalemate. Elected officials have to show that they’re doing something, so
they propose bills designed only to create a talking point against the other
side. Senate Democrats do it, too. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which
was predictably filibustered to death by Republicans on Tuesday, was the latest example. We supported
that bill as an important vehicle for reducing the wage gap between men and
women, but the principal reason Democrats introduced it was to embarrass Mitt
Romney and other Republicans over their pronounced indifference to the issue.
Nonetheless, House
Republicans have refined this practice into an art and have passed nearly two
dozen of these bills. The latest example was Thursday’s
vote to repeal the tax on companies that sell more
than $5 million in medical devices, a component of the health care reform law.
Another provision in the bill would let people use health savings accounts to
pay for over-the-counter drugs, changing an aspect of the health care law in a
way that would primarily benefit higher-income taxpayers.
Both provisions would cut the
amount of revenue the government will need to subsidize health insurance for
low-income people, though Republicans (and 37 Democrats) voted to make up for
the loss with disincentives for people to accept health care subsidies. The
device industry will recoup the tax with new business from currently uninsured
people. The bill is designed to please conservative voters, and will not be
taken up by the Senate.
Another ridiculous bill coming up would prohibit the
adoption of any major new government regulation until the unemployment rate
falls to 6 percent or less.
Yet the House, so eager to
take these kinds of votes, won’t move the
stalled transportation bill, holding up billions of
dollars — and millions of jobs — on road and transit projects, apparently out
of fear it might help the economy and thus the political fortunes of Democrats.
Because of internal Republican divisions, the House could pass only a 90-day
bill extending existing highway programs. But when the
Senate overwhelmingly approved a two-year bill
(on a 74-to-22 vote), House leaders held it up in conference committee, while
insisting on attaching unrelated provisions, like approving the Keystone XL oil
pipeline and restricting any regulations on toxic coal ash from power plants.
So far, the House Republicans
have done little but show that they have no real interest in governing.
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