Just how lazy is the Senate? If you need just one metric to measure this, consider the following: The Senate has had just one amendment vote this entire year.
Many outside observers chalk the Senate’s glacial pace and lack of debate up to polarization and gridlock. But a closer observation reveals that gridlock has little to do with it. Rather, laziness does.
I’ve spent the better part of the last year writing about ways in which the Republican Senate wastes time: working 2.5 days a week, engaging in endless quorum calls, and allowing the Democrats to run roughshod over the Trump agenda with little consequence.
Yet, the Senate insists on keeping to its soporific playbook: working from Monday night to Thursday afternoon, banning all debate and amendments (and excoriating those who seek them), and taking as few votes as possible.
The president’s agenda is suffering for it. About 40 percent of Trump’s nominees remain unconfirmed, far more than piled up during parallel points in the terms of Trump’s last four predecessors. The Senate has killed any chances of Obamacare repeal, actively blocked funding for President Trump’s wall, and hasn’t even managed to pass a budget (despite lambasting Democrats for not doing so for years). – READ MORE
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