Congressional Republicans aren't even going to be making a show of being the loyal opposition, or bothering to resemble a responsible governing party any more. In this election year, the last year of President Obama's final term in office, they're plumbing the depths of their petty and disrespectful relationship with the president.
In a harsh partisan snub, the Republican chairmen of the Senate and House budget committees—Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming and Representative Tom Price of Georgia—have chosen not to invite Shaun Donovan, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to testify about the administration's plan, set to be released on Tuesday as part of the traditional budget week festivities.
"Rather than spend time on a proposal that, if anything like this administration's previous budgets, will double down on the same failed policies that have led to the worst economic recovery in modern times, Congress should continue our work on building a budget that balances and that will foster a healthy economy," Mr. Price said in a statement.
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, called the decision an insult and said it was representative of the "corrosive radicalism that has gripped congressional Republicans." White House officials said it raised doubts about the frequent Republican leadership claims to restore "regular order" in Congress.
This is highly irregular—as much so as the record-setting obstruction of Obama's nominees has been. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both ascended to leadership under the promise that they would re-establish "regular order," make Congress work again, and prove that Republicans could govern. All of that was apparently code for "amp up our efforts to fuck over Obama."
Never before has a Congress worked so hard at doing nothing in order to thwart a president.