The McConnell mentality keeps the Senate and Congress dysfunctional

By Jennifer Rubin September 20 at 9:00 AM

Imagine if all serious differences forging a bipartisan bill could be overcome, allowing for some genuine security for the most vulnerable in our society and moving closer to consensus on health care. It might encourage similar moves on other issues. It might restore some trust in government.

Well, we had it and because it was bipartisan, non-extreme and did not afford the Republican Senate a win for the sake of winning and the chance to get back in the good graces of the manifestly unfit and unstable president, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stepped in to nix it.

That is what, according to multiple sources, happened yesterday as Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) cleared the decks on substantive issues. But then Alexander got yanked back. He hinted at the pressure he was under when he told the press he was “not a magician.” Too embarrassed to acknowledge he’d been stomped on by McConnell, he put out a patently disingenuous statement. “Senator Murray and I had hoped to agree early this week on a limited, bipartisan plan to stabilize 2018 premiums in the individual health insurance market that we could take to Senate leaders by the end of the month,” he said. “During the last month, we have worked hard and in good faith, but have not found the necessary consensus among Republicans and Democrats to put a bill in the Senate leaders’ hands that could be enacted.” In fact the only problem was his majority leadership, desperately straining to please the president with a partisan, fly-by-night repeal of Obamacare.

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Murray hit back with her own statement. “I was very glad that Chairman Alexander kicked off this bipartisan process to tackle health care uncertainty and the higher premiums facing families if Congress doesn’t act. We’ve held hearings, we’ve had discussions that included over half the Senate, and we’ve negotiated in good faith for weeks to try achieve, as Chairman Alexander puts it so well, ‘a result’ for our constituents.” She conceded that she made “some tough concessions to move in Chairman Alexander’s direction when it comes to giving states more flexibility.” However, she let on, “Republican leaders have decided to freeze this bipartisan approach and are trying to jam through a partisan Trumpcare bill, but I am confident that we can reach a deal if we keep working together—and I am committed to getting that done.” One couldn’t help but fear a bit embarrassed for Alexander, a seasoned legislator who had been rapped on the knuckles and retreated like an obedient school boy.

Minority Leader Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) confirmed what everyone minimally plugged into the day’s events on the Hill knew: “This is not about substance. We gave them many of the things they asked for, including copper plans and wide waiver authority. The Republican leadership is so eager to pass Graham-Cassidy that they’re scuttling a balanced, bipartisan negotiation.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/09/20/mcconnell-mentality-keeps-the-senate-and-congress-dysfunctional/?utm_term=.61e9df276c94