Until now, the Senate has gotten some modest things done—in part, because Harry Reid's Democrats haven't filibustered everything in sight the way Mitch McConnell's Republicans did when they were in the minority. The Senate passed fast-track legislation for President Obama's trade deal, a bill overseeing the nuclear agreement with Iran, and a budget bill (which was non-binding).
But things are about to get interesting. Reid is promising to shut down a series of spending bills—highway, defense, and appropriations—unless McConnell makes some concessions in them. Burgess Everett reports:
Reid has called a national defense authorization bill that Republicans are pushing a “waste of time” because the White House has promised to veto it and pledged to block Republican spending bills and an extension of highway funding unless Republicans agree to fund Democratic spending programs and provide long-term certainty in the transportation budget. [...]
McConnell, in turn, is angling to outmaneuver Democrats by pledging on Monday to first move a defense policy bill and then immediately follow it with a defense spending bill — practically daring Democrats to follow through on their threat to filibuster measures seen as critical to national security. Already McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have gotten mileage out of Reid’s “waste of time” remark.
The danger here for both sides is that they will somehow be blamed for the inability of Congress to produce—especially if the clash leads to a government shutdown. The question is, would a faltering Congress be pinned on McConnell's inability to lead or Reid's obstructionism?
What do you think? After all, Republicans spent the last six years blocking everything that came their way and voters still saw fit to put them in charge of the Senate.