Group Counts Record Number of Cloture Votes since ’70s, Documents GOP Obstruction

A new report from the progressive group Campaign for America’s Future alleges unprecedented obstruction on behalf of congressional Republicans, clocking the 110th Congress at a record number of cloture votes since the 1970s.

According to the report, Congress had held 94 cloture votes as of July 22–56 more than the average since 1973. The report projects Congress will hold 118 cloture votes by the end of 2008.

GOP senators have obstructed seven bills that had popular support in both chambers, the report says, forcing cloture votes that demanded 60 “yes” tallies to bring those measures to the floor. Such bills include renewable energy tax credits, a windfall profits tax on oil companies, federal government negotiations with drug companies over Medicare drug prices, D.C. voting rights in the House, and withdrawal from Iraq.

The GOP is to blame for Congress’s all-time-low approval rating, as those measures would have satisfied the public’s 2006 mandate for change, the group says. Congressional approval dropped to single digits for the first time earlier this summer.

The GOP has falsely stuck Democrats with a “do-nothing” label, the group alleges.

“Now this is sort of like knee-capping the postman and then complaining that the mail is late,” Campaign for America’s Future Co-Director Robert Borosage said. “As Republicans posture about the do-nothing Congress, it’s worth remembering that much would have gotten done had they not been in the way.”

Conservatives have lauded the GOP for its obstructionist tactics, as bloggers and pundits say the party has done well particularly in the recent debate over energy, where a majority of the public supports GOP proposals for more offshore oil drilling.