Harry Reid withheld MANY bills from Obama's desk so that he wouldn't have to actually repeal them and make himself look bad (worse) in the eyes of most people before the elections.
The two sides are going to have to come together. They are going to do it because there is going to be political pressure to do so from the citizenry. That's the only type of pressure that politicians respond to. If they really believe they may lose their seat and power they will change their ways.
This is such a problem! It seems as though every level from the POTUS to our local community leaders want to spend. My high school just built some sort of building that can only be used by the football team. It cost hundreds of thousands, and needs maintenance fees. At the same time, they are cutting sports, arts and clubs! That is disgusting.
It's great to spend a little on useful extra stuff when you have big surpluses and things are going great, but such a situation is a rarity these days. Even then, you don't want to overdo it.
Now that Reid is no longer Senate majority leader, it will be interesting to see how Obama wiggles out of the tight spot Republicans will force him into. He looks bad enough now . . . and apparently the Republicans goal is to up the ante. in two years will he be the reason a Republican is elected president?
We had a couple of amendments to vote on, and the one that asked whether or not to require a vote when considering tax increases pass. So there is hope at least on the local level of fighting off tax and spending increases, I think. There isn't as much of an appetite for increased spending, even on the local level because local governments are more cautious now that they have been threw the painful cuts resulting from the great recession.
