Mitch McConnell has blocked over 100 bills in just 4 months

Since January, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has prevented over 100 bills that have passed in the House from even coming up for a vote. His actions obstruct and ignore legislation that millions of Americans backed by electing a Democratic House majority in 2018.

“We have multiple, House-passed bills awaiting action. Leader McConnell need only call them up for debate. But instead, the legislative graveyard, where good legislation doesn’t even get debated or amended — let alone passed — is upon us,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech on Monday.

Senate Democrats noted last month that more than 100 bills passed by the House “are awaiting legislative action in the Senate.”

A full 53% of votes cast in 2018 supported a Democratic agenda, versus 45.2% for Republicans. Democrats had a popular vote majority of more than 8.6 million votes, the most in 44 years (since right after Nixon resigned).

“The progressive agenda — ending pharma greed and making medicines affordable, ensuring students can graduate without debt, raising the minimum wage and putting more money in the pockets of working families — delivered a Democratic majority to Congress,” said Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in a statement to Shareblue Media.

“If Mitch McConnell and Congressional Republicans continue to stonewall the progressive agenda at the behest of billionaires and special interests, they will pay a price at the polls next year.”

The McConnell-engineered logjam includes popular legislation like H.R. 1, the “For the People Act,” which included a number of anti-corruption measures, as well as enhanced rules and guidelines to increase voter participation.

The House also passed the “Paycheck Fairness Act,” which makes it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination, as well as the “Background Checks Act,” which protects children and families by expanding background checks for gun purchases.

Those bills all had support from Democrats and Republicans, yet McConnell has chosen to hold politically motivated show votes rather than take up bills with changes Americans want.

“It’s a new level of spinelessness for Mitch McConnell and his Republican majority, refusing to even bring bills that Republicans and Democrats support to the Senate floor for debate,” Stewart Boss, spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) told Shareblue.

McConnell is so devoted to opposing a progressive agenda that he has already promised to continue his blockade even if Trump loses the election in 2020.

McConnell’s actions show a continued disconnect from American voters and a commitment to pursuing an agenda completely different from the one millions of people have made clear they stand by.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.