Barack Obama and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are coming up on their one-year anniversary of total control of the United States. The Democrats were going to reshape the country in the first 100 days. That didn’t happen. Then they made promises for the end of this year. So far, they have only the unplanned stimulus failure to show for the year. The Democrats can’t seem to get anything done. Throughout the year, they have painted the Republicans in Congress as the “party of no”-as in, voting no for Democratic proposals, and having no alternative ideas. Democrats would have you believe that Republicans are obstructing America’s march toward the liberal-progressive utopia they wish to create. However, blaming their failure on congressional Republicans is comical. The Democrats have a super-majority in the Senate, with 60 votes, and a well-padded majority in the House, with 258 representatives in the party. If the Democrats were united, they could pass a law forcing Americans to stand on their heads and spit nickels. The Republicans are powerless today. Democratic infighting is obstructing legislation, not Republicans. The second “party of no” criticism from the left is that Republicans haven’t offered any alternatives to the Democrats’ legislation. This argument is hollow. In response to each piece of major legislation put forward by Democrats this year, Republicans generated and introduced an alternative bill. Here is a cheat sheet on what the bills are and what they do.
Democrat Proposals:
Democrat Proposals:
| Democrat Bill No. |
Title | What It Does |
| H.R. 1 | American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (a.k.a. the stimulus) | Authorized Congress to spend $787 billion on a host of pork-barrel projects throughout the nation. |
| H.R. 1409 | Employee Free Choice Act (a.k.a. card check) | Ends the secret ballot in unionization votes. |
| H.R. 3962 | Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009 | Increases taxes and creates an individual mandate to provide health insurance to an estimated 30 million people. To do so, it introduces a “public option”: essentially the government enters the health-care market to compete with private insurance companies. |
| H.R. 2454 | American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (a.k.a. cap and trade) | Implements draconian cap-and-trade laws that would jack up the price of energy in the United States. |
| H.R. 3126 | Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 | Creates a massive new bureaucracy called the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The CFPA is an executive branch agency that essentially hollows out the consumer protection power of all other executive departments and the Federal Reserve. The CFPA also gets to define “standard” financial products. This provision will likely lower the amount of credit available to Americans. |
Republican Proposals:
| Republican Bill No. |
Title | What It Does |
| H.R. 470 | Economic Recovery and Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2009 | Cuts income, capital gains, and alternative minimum and corporate taxes. Doesn’t spend a dime. |
| S. 478 | Secret Ballot Protection Act | Protects workers’ right to a secret ballot. |
| H.R. 2520 | Patients’ Choice Act | Equalizes the tax treatment of individual and business health-care premiums, making it more affordable for individuals to buy their own health care. |
| H.R. 6566 | American Energy Act | Increases production of energy in America through nuclear, coal, wind, and solar power generation. Cuts red tape on the process for building new nuclear plants. Allows for expanded drilling of America’s own energy resources. |
| H.R. 3310 | Consumer Protection and Regulatory Enhancement Act of 2009 | Rather than create a new agency, the CPREA creates an umbrella group to coordinate existing efforts. The bill gives the Government Accountability Office the right to audit the Federal Reserve (also in the Democratic bill by force of Rep. Ron Paul). Ends government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) conservatorship (meaning that the federal government will no longer fund Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with tax dollars). Winds down GSEs over a 10-year period. |
