Payback: GOP Retribution Tactics If Dems Initiate Reconciliation

Jillian Bandes | April 23, 2009 12:11 PM

Via Roll Call (subscription required) Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said that Senate GOP leadership wouldn't hold back if Senate Democrats institute the

controversial reconciliation provision to pass health care.

The story, by David Drucker, cites a former GOP Senate leadership aid speaking about the specific tactics that might be taken:

According to a former Senate Republican leadership aide, the GOP might first go after White House nominations. Republicans could require each appointee to get a separate hearing and a separate roll call vote. They could stop attending committee hearings, and decline to provide “unanimous consent” to move forward on even the most benign issues or routine Senate business. Republicans could also demand that the text of bills, which are often hundreds of pages long, be read aloud.

In other words, Republicans can essentially bring the Senate to a standstill if the Dems push through reconciliation. Awesome! I've already said that the more Congress is on vacation and doing nothing, the better off we all are. Now, we'll not only have a totally inactive branch of Congress, but also a completely humiliated Democratic majority. To top it off, all the Senators will immediately become stars of a government-sponsored reality TV show - a spontaneous, Senate-centered version of Real World. I'm calling producers now.