On the Filibuster

The hundred and eleventh Congress, which had emitted more than a few whimpers along the way, ended with a fusillade of bangs. Reconvening for the last time after the shock of November’s Republican wave, the outgoing, still Democratic Congress legislated with unwonted vigor and speed. In the six days from December 17th until December 22nd, it sent President Obama a barrage of bills, including, in chronological order, a huge tax-cuts-and-unemployment-relief compromise package; the repeal of the dishonorable “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law; a substantial strengthening of the government’s ability to keep contaminants like E. coli out of our food; the ratification of the New START treaty with Russia; and health-care coverage for 9/11 first responders sickened by their service at Ground Zero. And on the seventh day Congress rested.

The lame duck may have been as wounded as a lawyer at a Dick Cheney shooting party, but for a week it flew like an eagle. Before that astonishing last-minute flurry, Obama and the 111th had already racked up a legislative score that put them in a league with Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon Johnson, and the two Roosevelts. The pre-midterm accomplishments included a stimulus that pulled the country back from the brink of a second Great Depression, the Code Blue rescue of the American automobile industry, firmer regulation of the financial industry, and, of course, comprehensive health-care reform.

Good. But not good enough. The Christmas rush of the lame-duck session provided a bit of holiday cheer to those who voted for Obama two years ago with such soaring hopes, but there remains a sour sense of disappointment. The packages under the tree did not include the DREAM Act, which sought to lift the threat of deportation from foreign-born people who were brought here illegally as children and have earned the right to be the Americans they already are in all but name. The tax compromise extended the unconscionable Bush cuts for the rich—the ransom that Republicans extorted for allowing any other business of any kind to be taken up at all. Earlier, Congress was unable to act on global warming, the most ominous threat facing the nation and the world: a modest bill to begin putting a price on carbon emissions passed the House but, like so much else, died in the Senate. And even the signal triumphs of the 111th—health care, financial reform, the stimulus—were far weaker than they should have been.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/01/10/110110taco_talk_hertzberg