This week we’ve seen signs of a return to “traditional” lawmaking that existed in the years prior to the last Democrat controlled Congress during Obama’s first term. Republicans, for the first time in 12 years, seem to have put together a good-faith effort to build a compromise on the proposed $2 trillion infrastructure plan.
In 2010, Republicans forced Democrats to pass the Affordable Care Act along party lines, despite Democrats making major concessions in the bill, which ultimately prevented the Act from realizing its full potential. The passing of Obamacare flipped a switch in the Republican Party, giving rise to the Tea Party and setting the stage for Trump years later. From this day forward, Republicans were the party of obstruction, and little else.
In the 114th Congress, in the second half of Obama’s final term in office, Republicans controlled both the House and Senate. Here, they epitomized obstruction, famously voting in vain to repeal Obamacare 67 times, rather than take up other important bipartisan business.
Sadly, Republicans in the 115th Congress, despite their control of Congress and the Presidency, were barely able to organize themselves for anything other than the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, leaving President Trump to do all the heavy lifting via executive actions.
Today, Republicans have been demoted to minority status in both chambers of Congress. This, combined with the ousting of Trump from office, has led the tone of some Congressional Republicans to change somewhat. Despite initial failed obstruction efforts on the Covid-19 stimulus bill from earlier this year, Republicans may be turning a corner. Though about a quarter of the size of the Democratic bill, Republicans have put together a cohesive and rational plan based on actual policy instead of political pandering. It does seem like there may be a real opportunity here for a bipartisan bill, though I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for it.
The differences in this case between the two parties illustrates perfectly why two functioning parties are necessary in our government. Democrats have a tendency to simply throw a never-ending stream of money at a problem in hopes of fixing it. Republicans prefer to simply do nothing. Neither is an ideal course of action.
Our economy is in a fragile state, and both the Republican and Democratic defaults would be dangerous right now. In normal times, government spending can have a huge positive stimulant effect without causing much inflation at all. But these are not normal times. In order not to cause inflation, the economy must be limited by demand, rather than supply. Certainly, in some areas of our economy, the issue is a lack of demand. Restaurants, hotels, and office space are some of the things that come to mind negatively affected by a reduced demand.
However, other segments of our economy, after being shut down, have lost productive capacity or have been unable to keep up with demand. The nationwide semiconductor shortage is a prime example that is currently rippling through the markets. The housing market is another.
Government spending, in these markets, can increase demand. However, the quantity demanded cannot be met by the market. As a result, prices go up, causing inflation. Houses cannot be built quickly. Semiconductor plants take years to design and construct. Giving people more money only makes these shortages worse and drives up prices.
This brings me back to my initial point. Democrats are right… we can no longer stand by and do nothing about our crumbling infrastructure. But Republicans are right too… we must be careful with how we proceed in these uncertain times.
A lot of this does have to do with the labor shortage and restrictions in place due to Covid. After more than a year of changes due to the pandemic, the cracks are really starting to widen. The pandemic is not over, but we are reaching an economic tipping point. We must find a way to safely get people back to work as soon as possible.
This is why we need two functioning parties. Both the Democrats and Republicans are wrong. Both are too radical. Both fail to acknowledge the nuances of the situation. Republicans may be, for the first time in 10 years, doing the actual job of the minority party; making sure that the actions of the majority are not taken rashly.
This is where Republicans function best. They rarely have any tangible policy ideas of their own. When given Congress, the only thing they managed to do was lower taxes (in a haphazard way). They have never presented a coherent healthcare plan, immigration plan, criminal reform, or anything else. They are simply not good at coming up with ideas on how to move forward. But, they are very good at critiquing and poking holes in plans that Democrats come up with.
We need both. Under a pure Republican leadership, the government would do nothing and things would stay the same or get worse. Under pure Democratic leadership, too many things would be changed at one time, in a poorly thought out manner. The necessary balance has been lacking in Washington for 10 years. For now, at least on this one issue, there is a glimmer of hope. Democrats are doing what they do best by dreaming big, and Republicans are there to keep them grounded.
I sincerely hope this becomes the norm for the 117th Congress.
