It’s Even Plain To NBC News …

 …why “bi-partisanship” in D.C. isn’t alive and well:

House Republicans have undermined the bipartisan path for years by slamming the resulting deals as “swamp” creations by a “uniparty” that is addicted to spending. Now, GOP lawmakers in both chambers are going it alone, suggesting they’ll bring more rescissions packages to undo past bipartisan spending agreements because the existing process is failing.

The arsonists are trying to claim the benefits of burning it all down.

The appropriations process has to be less bipartisan,” Vought told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Thursday. “It’s not going to keep me up at night, and I think will lead to better results, by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan.”

He added that more rescission packages would be coming.

The backlash was fierce. Senate Republicans responsible for crafting the government funding bills were taken aback by his candor.

Taken aback at Vought saying the quiet part out loud, that is. I mean, when the fundamental work of Congress needs to be “less bipartisan,” that’s damning the very concept of a democratic republic. And when even Mitch McConnell thinks there’s a problem:

“The one thing we all agree on is the appropriations process is broken,” former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., lamented, describing how during his 18 years leading the GOP conference he helped oversee a shift away from government funding levels being decided by committees and instead being negotiated by only the highest levels of leadership and the White House.

“I concluded our failure to pass our bills empower every president, regardless of party, because I’ve been in those discussions at the end, the big four and the guy with the pen, and that makes all of our requests irrelevant,” McConnell said.

One has to wonder why the Democrats are so intransigent. 🤨

Rising partisanship has weakened committees broadly and placed more power in the hands of leadership. In the context of government funding, that led to “omnibus” spending bills and continuing resolutions — or CRs — negotiated by party leaders and jammed through Congress, often with an impending deadline to pressure holdouts to fall in line quickly.

But House Republicans raised hell, torching the massive bills negotiated behind closed doors as a betrayal to their constituents. In recent years, they have successfully steered their leadership away from that approach. And it leaves few options going forward.

This goes back to the Gingrich era, when he decided government shutdowns were a valid GOP tool. They’ve never proven to be, but the GOP keeps swinging that hammer and hitting themselves in the head. The logical conclusion of that analogy explains why they keep doing it without learning from the experience.

It also illustrates that the problem of “partisanship” (which is not a problem in a democratic society. Intransigence is.) in D.C. all flows from one side. And I continue to insist this latest iteration predates Gingrich’s speakership by 3 decades. It springs from the failure of Goldwater against LBJ in ‘64, and the refusal of Goldwater supporters (the ideological ancestors of Vought and Miller and Kirk) to accept that electoral landslide result. The serious partisanship has come from one side, opposing the Civil Rights Act and the Great Society legislation and everything that sprang from that. The GOP wants to rollback everything government has done since at least FDR, if not back to the 19th century.

But, you know, Democrats really should be less intractable… 🤦‍♂️