GOP leaders label House Dems as ineffective

House Republican leaders issued a report Friday that characterizes the Democrats’ first 100 days in power as ineffective and touts GOP efforts to block key agenda items.

“If Democrats took this nation in any ‘new’ direction during their first 100 days, it was backwards,” Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement.

While noting that the Democrats passed their top six legislative agenda items, often by wide margins, during the much-touted first 100 hours of the 110th Congress, Republican leaders argue that these initiatives failed to have an impact beyond the House floor, according to the report.

{mosads}The 19- page document, entitled “Democrats: 0 for 6 in 07, Failing to Produce Results in the 110th Congress.,” compares the Democratic “Six in 06” agenda to the 1995 “Contract With America,” which led to the passage of sweeping reforms following the Republican takeover in the 1994 election.

“The 10 Contract initiatives were the basis of 24 bills, the majority of which were considered during the first 100 days,” the report said. “Twenty one of the 24 bills were considered under an open rule or under suspension.”

The document touts successful Republican attempts to amend legislation through passing several motions to recommit, including a provision added to the DC voting rights bill that effectively caused Democratic leadership to pull the legislation from the House floor.

The voting-rights bill seemed destined for passage last month until Republicans filed an amendment that would have struck down the District’s strict gun laws, causing the bill to be sent back to committee.

“Republicans have been so successful, in fact, that our record has elicited the ire of Democratic leadership which has pledged to change their own rules,” the report said, referring to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) comments that leadership may change the rule in the future to prevent Republicans from offering amendments which they consider disruptive and counterproductive.

While many Republicans voted for the Democrats’ “Six in 06” agenda, Republican leadership contends that the bills were window dressing and bravado rather than substantive reforms that would change the policies and cites newspaper articles and editorials throughout the document.

“As Democrats have quickly discovered, sound bites from the campaign trail don’t necessarily translate into sound legislation,” the report said.

“From their retreat-and-hope-for-the-best approach to the Global War on Terror to proposing the largest tax increase in American history, Democrats have been tone deaf to the needs of today’s middle class families and the security of future generations of Americans,” Boehner stated.