Boehner's House is on a roll-call roll
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
By Gregory Korte, USA TODAY
The House, led by Speaker John Boehner, has had the most
roll-call votes at this point since 1995.
The Senate has had fewer votes, 68, than any time since
1997.
So with Congress divided between a Republican House and
Democratic Senate, the volume of votes hasn't translated into a
litany of laws.
In the first three months, the Republican-dominated House passed
24 bills, and the Senate 11. Each is the fewest in more than a
decade.
The result: As of today, President Obama has signed just 10
bills into law. Of those, four were spending items left over from
the last Congress, and one named a courthouse in Yuma, Ariz., for
slain judge John Roll.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., whose job includes
running the House floor, said better schedule management has
allowed for more votes.
"What is more indicative is what we're trying to do - whether
it's to repeal 'Obamacare' or roll back EPA regulations - is we're
trying to be productive in what comes to the floor," Cantor told
USA TODAY. "It's juxtaposed to the inaction in the Senate, which
should give people pause."
Democrats are quick to argue that none of the votes has been on
a jobs bill.
"It's been 100 days of the Republicans' no jobs agenda and
they've chosen to devote time and energy to bills and resolutions
that would defund the Affordable Care Act, eliminate mandatory
support for preventive care, and abolish any and all federal
support for Planned Parenthood," said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.,
during a floor debate last week. "House Republicans know that these
measures won't be approved by the Senate and would never be signed
by the President. It's just another political gesture at a time
when we should be working to create jobs."
Congressional scholars say the number of House votes mirror the
frenzied pace of debate in 1995, when Gingrich became the first
Republican speaker in 40 years and vowed to roll back the size of
government.
"I am struck by how similar this election was to 1994, how
similar the outcome is to 1994 and how similar the behavior is to
the beginning of 1995," said David Rohde, an expert on
congressional voting at Duke University.
"Whether the lessons of '95 are relevant depends on the
confrontation and who the public ends up taking sides with," Rohde
said.
Rohde said the number of votes has as much to do with politics
as it does with legislating. Many votes serve to put Democrats on
record as opposing issues Republicans think they can run on, he
said.
Indeed, at least 15 votes have involved the repeal of last
year's health care legislation.
"If it's Monday, the House is repealing health care," said Evan
Tracey, of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks campaign
ads. He said the House GOP is busy making good on campaign
promises. "They're checking the boxes to say we did what we said we
were going to do, but they're also setting up the board for
2012."
Though most GOP initiatives are held up in the Senate, the
constant votes give Republicans opportunities to frame the
issues.
Asked last week about the biggest accomplishment in the first
100 days, Boehner, R-Ohio, said, "We've turned the spending debate
around 180 degrees."
Like Gingrich, Boehner has made good on a promise to open up
House rules to allow the minority party to bring amendments to the
floor. H.R. 1, the House spending bill that died in the Senate in
February, had 105 votes alone.
"Politics is gamesmanship," said Don Wolfensberger, director of
the Congress Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and
a former chief of staff to the House Rules Committee. "Part of it
is the perception is at least they're trying. And that's what
they're trying to get across, even if they are repeating
themselves."