At this point, the House has passed more than 200 pieces of legislation since Democrats took control in January. That’s an amazing number. But what’s almost as amazing—and far more disappointing—is that over 130 of those bills have moved no further than Mitch McConnell’s desk before the Republican Senate leader simply tossed them into the closet. Those bills haven’t received a vote. They haven’t received a hearing. They haven’t had so much as a moment in committee.
If McConnell’s actions seem both draconian and profoundly undemocratic, it’s because they are. And a huge majority of Americans agree. In the latest polling from Civiqs, voters across the nation were asked how the Senate should handle bills that come out of the House. And while no one answer got more than 50%, a big majority of Americans agreed on this much: Mitch McConnell is doing it wrong.
A plurality of Americans felt that any bill passed by the House deserved a vote in the Senate. A group almost as large felt that a bill coming up to the Senate should at least deserve consideration. Only 13% of voters felt that the Senate leadership was under no obligation to take action on a bill that has already been passed by the House.
McConnell’s inaction is one of those items in which there is broad, bipartisan agreement that things need to change.
The question and answers as published in Civiqs July 13-15 poll.