Is Bipartisanship Dead?
As the country faces a potential government shutdown at the end of September, Senators appear to be working in a bipartisan way to avoid the shutdown and fund the government for this fiscal year.
But, in the House, it’s a completely different story. Bipartisanship is dead.
It wasn’t always like this.
For decades, in working on money in politics and campaign finance reform issues, we almost always were able to achieve bipartisan leadership and support in Congress.
In the 1970s, the lead sponsors of the successful Watergate campaign finance reforms were Senate Republican Leader Hugh Scott (PA) and House Republican Conference Chairman John Anderson (IL), along with Democrats, Senator Ted Kennedy (MA) and Representative Mo Udall (AZ).
In the late 1990s and early 2000s the lead sponsors of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) to ban unlimited contributions to political parties, were Republican Senator John McCain (AZ) and Republican Representative Christopher Shays (CT), along with Democrats, Senator Russ Feingold (WI) and Representative Marty Meehan (MA).
House Republicans provided the signatures necessary to activate a discharge petition to bring BCRA to the House floor, over the vehement objections of Republican Majority Whip Tom Delay (TX). The bill passed with Democratic and Republican votes. In the Senate, 20 Republicans voted to end a filibuster led by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), allowing the legislation to be enacted with Democratic and Republican votes.
Senator McConnell described the signing of BCRA into law by President George W. Bush as “The worst day of my political life.”
In 2000, with overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers, the House and Senate passed legislation to require disclosure of campaign contributions to and expenditures by 527 political groups.
But, times have changed.
Once the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 reopened the campaign money floodgates, bipartisanship came to an end. In recent years, congressional Republicans have almost uniformly opposed real campaign finance reforms.
The parties in Congress have devolved into tribes – and that’s especially true in today’s House.
While Senate Republican Leader McConnell has been known as “Doctor No” and the “Grim Reaper,” nevertheless, there have been a number of successful bipartisan legislative efforts in the Senate during the Biden Administration.
This year, the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME), reported all 12 appropriation bills to the full Senate for the first time in years and with strong bipartisan Committee support. The Senate also appears ready to pass a Continuing Resolution to prevent a government shutdown and allow the government funding effort to be completed before the end of the session.
House Republicans, meanwhile, are not working with Democrats on this or practically anything else.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA) and House Republicans are all too often captives to the three dozen or so members of the House’s extremist Freedom Caucus.
House Freedom Caucus members apparently have little, if any, interest in governing and seem only to be interested in creating chaos in the name of their extremist agenda.
They say they will oppose a Continuing Resolution and appropriations bills unless their extremist demands for changes are met – demands that they must know will never be accepted by the Senate or White House. They have no apparent interest in a funded government or in advancing the interests of the American people.
They also, apparently, have little interest in keeping control of the House.
Freedom Caucus members are reportedly engaged in taking down their own Republican colleagues. According to Punchbowl News, high-profile conservative Republicans are “plotting behind the scenes” to defeat Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX). And, Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-PA) reportedly has been encouraging a Republican activist to run in a primary against moderate Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).
The House Freedom Caucus reminds one of the Japanese fighter pilots who flew kamikaze missions during World War II.
McCarthy will soon be forced to make a choice he has successfully avoided all year. Will he stand with the extremist fringe and support a destructive, extended shutdown? Or, will he stand with the House Republicans and enough House Democrats to pass the Continuing Resolution and avoid a shutdown?
This September, the rubber will, as they say, meet the road.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears each Thursday in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s and other recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
