Same Old Song: Republicans Chorus of “Slow Down” Beginning to Sound Like A Broken Record
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Same Old Song: Republicans Chorus of “Slow Down” Beginning to Sound Like A Broken Record
Wall Street Reform: Different Issue, Same Refrain
“It Needs to Slow Down.” – Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Washington, DC – As Wall Street reform heads into the final stages, Congressional Republicans seem to be humming the same tune they have for every piece of legislation before Congress. Mostly recently the ranking Republican member on the House Financial Services Committee Spencer Bachus and the ranking Republican Senator on the Senate Banking Committee Richard Shelby have tried to warn of the speed with which this bill – 2 years in the making – has been proceeding through Congress.
Tom McMahon, Acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: “We’re pretty sure the Republicans in Congress were elected to actually legislate and not just throw up stop signs every time progress is being made on significant issues facing Americans. The GOP is confusing productivity with rushing and effectiveness with haste. Republicans need to retire this tune and get down to the business of governing.”
Of course this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this excuse from the GOP in effect to actually kill progress.
Economic Stimulus Plan – which according to the CBO means that up to 2.8 million Americans are working today:
Way back in December 2008, Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mitchell said he didn’t want “not a rushed, partisan take-it-or-leave-it approach” when it came to passing a crucial plan to jump start economic recovery. [CNN.com, 12/3/08]
“Let’s slow down. Let’s take our time,” said Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) [Floor Speech, 2/6/09]
Health Care Reform – a year of legislative work, decades of fighting for reform:
“If we slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it.” – from a memo by veteran Republican consultant Alex Castellanos. [Washington Post, 7/17/09]
“The Republican National Committee will engage in every activity we can to slow down this mad rush..” – from an internal RNC memo [Huffington Post, 7/21/09]
When all else failed, Senate Republicans looked to procedural measures to slow down reform. [Sen. Judd memo, 12/1/09]
Wall Street Reform – nothing new despite the months of negotiations and two years after the economy was brought to the brink:
3 months ago in April, Tom Coburn was saying the same thing about Wall Street Reform: “Look, there’s no rush right now.” [“Dylan Ratigan Show,” MSNBC, 4/21/10]
And Now - “It Needs to Slow Down.” – Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) [Politico, 6/16/10]