DeclinetoState
07-10-2006, 02:56 PM
By Laurie Kellman / Associated Press (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060709/ap_on_go_co/do_little_congress)
Could a Republican-controlled Congress pass a bill to protect the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance from court challenges? No problem, especially if proposed during the patriotic season leading up to the Fourth of July, Republican leaders thought. No way, it turned out.
The bill, the first item on the GOP's election-year "American Values Agenda," couldn't get past a House committee. Even worse for the Republicans: They couldn't blame the flameout on Democrats. One of the GOP's very own, Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina, voted no. Seven other Judiciary Committee Republicans skipped the panel's meeting entirely.
So it goes this year for House Republicans, their majority in jeopardy for the first time in more than a decade. An unpopular president, deep divisions in their ranks and Democrats determined to regain control add up to a Congress that's having trouble doing its most basic job: passing legislation.
Republican leaders tried to shrug off the setbacks, while Democrats have pounced on the lack of progress.
The miserable failure (http://www.michaelmoore.com/)'s '06 Fix (http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=128)
Could a Republican-controlled Congress pass a bill to protect the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance from court challenges? No problem, especially if proposed during the patriotic season leading up to the Fourth of July, Republican leaders thought. No way, it turned out.
The bill, the first item on the GOP's election-year "American Values Agenda," couldn't get past a House committee. Even worse for the Republicans: They couldn't blame the flameout on Democrats. One of the GOP's very own, Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina, voted no. Seven other Judiciary Committee Republicans skipped the panel's meeting entirely.
So it goes this year for House Republicans, their majority in jeopardy for the first time in more than a decade. An unpopular president, deep divisions in their ranks and Democrats determined to regain control add up to a Congress that's having trouble doing its most basic job: passing legislation.
Republican leaders tried to shrug off the setbacks, while Democrats have pounced on the lack of progress.
The miserable failure (http://www.michaelmoore.com/)'s '06 Fix (http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=128)