Seven months in the making, a political messaging battle overwhelmed the legislative outcome, and senators from both parties left the Capitol frustrated when the legislature went into recess in August.
Apart from a massive foreign aid package in April, most major legislative initiatives have stalled, leaving lawmakers with little to brag about ahead of the November elections.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-Ill.) called the House’s “job” so far “terrible.”
While it’s not unusual for legislation to lag behind messaging in a presidential election year, it has nonetheless sparked frustration, with each party blaming the other.
“Yeah, I wish I could have done more,” he added.
In addition to the consistent backlog of judicial and executive branch bills, “when you have MAGA Republicans in control of the House, it’s obviously going to be harder to get things done because they don’t want to do things in a bipartisan way,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who praised the passage of the foreign aid bill and most of the Senate spending bills but acknowledged that the spending bills are a “low bar.”
The Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced 11 of the 12 bills, but none have received a vote on the full floor.
In addition to a flurry of judicial and executive branch nominations, the Senate was also able to approve several must-pass bills, including funding and reauthorization for the Federal Aviation Administration and the nation’s warrantless surveillance program.
The Senate also passed two bills last week aimed at strengthening child safety and regulating tech companies, but those measures only came into effect after months of what Republicans have derided as “sham votes” by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, most of which were part of the party’s messaging on reproductive rights.
Schumer also did not introduce a rail safety bill to Congress. Unfortunately The proposal was put forward by Senator Sherrod Brown (Democrat, Ohio), who is embroiled in a crucial battle for reelection in November. Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican nominee for vice president, is the lead Republican sponsor of the proposal, but some in the GOP leadership are opposed to it.
Senate Republicans also criticized Speaker Schumer for holding a final meeting on Thursday before lawmakers recessed on a House bill to expand the child tax credit. Senate Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the move, arguing that Democratic leaders are not trying to achieve a legislative victory by sending the bill to the floor.
Schumer placed the blame on his Republican colleagues.
“Today, Senate Republicans boldly told the American people that they will refuse to help you in 2024. Frankly, they voted no because of partisanship, not policy,” he said after the vote.
Election-year troubles also led to the failure of lawmakers’ most ambitious legislative effort this year — a bipartisan border bill co-ordinated by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Independent-Ariz.), which was killed by conservatives almost as soon as it was announced.
Former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) have moved to kill the bill, arguing it doesn’t go far enough to satisfy their preferences, and Republicans are also unwilling to hand President Biden a political win on what remains a sore point for Democrats.
The House schedule has also frustrated Republicans, who say they have had a lighter workload over the past two years, especially since Republicans took back control of the House, and are unhappy with Schumer’s decision to start Senate work on a few “magic Mondays.”
During those weeks, votes in Congress typically take place on Tuesday night, with lawmakers leaving for the weekend on Thursday afternoon. While 2023 and 2024 began with nine weeks of Tuesday sessions before the August recess, 2022 saw just one such week.
“Why don’t you go home?” Kramer said. “When you’re here, it doesn’t look like you’re working.”
