Bipartisanship – Republican Style

Every time President Obama or President Biden signed an Executive Order Republicans cried foul.  Their claim was a lack of bipartisanship.  When threatened with abolishing the filibuster Republican claims of filibuster get even louder.  But, what is a Republican example of bipartisanship?  Here’s a recent example:  Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, tweeted approvingly just hours after the Covid-19 Rescue bill passed about the $28.6 billion included for “targeted relief” for restaurants. His post did not mention that he had voted no.  Independent restaurant operators have won $28.6 billion worth of targeted relief.  This funding will ensure small businesses can survive the pandemic by helping to adapt their operations and keep their employees on the payroll.  — Senator Roger Wicker,  “I’m not going to vote for $1.9 trillion just because it has a couple of good provisions,” he later told reporters.  So to clarify, the Republican Senator got a measure inserted in the legislation to help his constituents and in the spirit of bipartisanship, Republican style, voted no for the legislation.  Ask President Obama about his negotiations with Senator Grassley when the ACA was being written.  In spite of the legislation being the creation of a Republican, leaning think tank and in spite of the legislation modeled from legislation signed into law in Massachusetts by a Republican governor, the ACA did not receive a single vote from a Republican senator.  Bipartisanship Republican style is any measure that comes up for a vote in a Democratic majority will be voted down and will not be supported by a single Republican vote.  Contrary to claims of bipartisanship Republican Senators have yet to demonstrate a single example.  All the more reason to put an end to the filibuster.  America needs the changes proposed by the Biden administration and the road to passage of much needed legislation is blocked by a useless tradition that has passed its time.  Eliminate, don’t modify or change the filibuster.  When tradition is so severely abused, tradition be damned!