When in doubt, delay

Despite relentless media and political attention to the health care bill, there are in fact many other urgent pieces of legislation that must be renewed or acted upon in some way before the December holiday recess begins. However, there is a backlog in legislative accomplishments in the Senate due to Republicans holding up often routine and popular legislation. In fact, some of the bills the Republicans have delayed, such as an extension on unemployment benefits, ended up passing without any nay votes. These delay tactics point to two major issues in American politics. First, the ability of the Republicans to dramatically slow down the legislative process even though they are in the minority points to the importance of Senate rules. In the House, bills are voted on according to rules set along partisan votes, so it is hard for the minority party to delay votes on non-contentious issues. However, in the Senate the power of the filibuster, holds, and open debate leads to more power for individual Senators, and because of the bicameral legislative system, just a few disgruntled Senators can hold up popular and essential legislation for the whole country. Second, the relatively low profile of many of these important as of yet unapproved appointees and bills highlight the media’s preference for drama and personality (healthcare vote-wrangling and rumors) over procedural issues that are important but complex and dry.