Can anyone name a single republican bill

[CrackityJones75]

Can anyone name a single republican bill or program that has benefitted the country in a meaningful way in the last 40 years? I am sure there are some but Injust can’t think of it.

I live in MN and I have a republican neighbor who complains about Democrats constantly but I have to laugh because he lives in a state that has been mostly Democratic for a long time and we live on the outskirts of Minneapolis. He clearly benefits from Democratic legislation here at home and nationally. But wondering exactly what legislation passed by republicans could be considered beneficial to the general public. And I come up empty.

[Chainfire]

1. The loosening of gun restrictions has benefited funeral homes across the country.

[CrackityJones75]

2. Well, there is that.

[alphafemale]

3. Forty years? Not off the top of my head.

But Title 9 was in 1972 under Nixon

[sop]

4. It was more than 40 years ago, but Nixon did get a lot of progressive things done.

[unblock]

9. Really it was the Democratic Congress. Nixon was merely politically astute enough to just sign them

instead of vetoing popular legislation.

[sop]

17. A lot of the progressive things he did were by executive orders.

Disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, a Nixon supporter.

(Edit: Just a few of the many EOs today's GOP would consider far too progressive)

Executive Order 11472 
Establishing the Environmental Quality Council and the Citizens' Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality

Executive Order 11478 
Equal employment opportunity in the Federal Government

Executive Order 11480 
The President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped

Executive Order 11482 
Establishing a Construction Industry Collective Bargaining Commission

Executive Order 11514 
Protection and enhancement of environmental quality

Executive Order 11523 
Establishing the National Industrial Pollution Control Council

Executive Order 11562 
Developing and coordinating a national program for physical fitness and sports

Executive Order 11566 
Consumer product information

Executive Order 11612 
Occupational safety and health programs for Federal employees

Executive Order 11625 
Prescribing additional arrangements for developing and coordinating a national program for minority business enterprise

Executive Order 11643 
Environmental safeguards on activities for animal damage control on Federal lands

Executive Order 11752 
Prevention, control, and abatement of environmental pollution at Federal facilities

[unblock]

18. Some, true. Nixon was certainly an odd duck. He was a political opportunist, not an ideologue.

He was conservative and authoritarian, but he understood that there was much he couldn't get away with politically at a time when the country leaned left and the balance of power in government actually reflected that.

So yeah, he did some progressive things, including cia executive order. Equal opportunity in federal employment comes to mind.

[dchill]

5. "Benefitting the country" is not the GOP's idea of a good time.

[dawg]

6. George W passed Medicare Part D.

It's an imperfect program that relies too much on private insurance companines, but it did help lots of people that had no help with their prescriptions before.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. 2 possible. Social Security Act Amendment of 1972 and End of Military Draft in 1973.

[lark]

8. I think the first was more of an albatross and they didn't support the 2nd.

I remember repugs running really hard against it. Now, that could have been just the ones from the south, not sure? Anyway, I do remember the 1973 end and definitely remember repugs railing and ranting against it HARD. I know Dems supported this strongly for the most part, but not even all of them. Seems like there were a few moderate repugs who were also anti-war but not the party as a whole.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. According to the NYTimes...

"....President Nixon pledged in his Presidential campaign of 1968 to abolish the draft, citing the “inequities inherent in any draft system.” In his first term, he moved gradually toward that objective."

Nixon also got the GOP to pass the Endangered Species Act.

[lark]

20. He was a very complicated man.

Not at all the simpleton that the last resident was.

[JHB]

15. Those would be within 50, but not within 40

I think the OP's question goes more to the Republican Party after Movement Conservatives took control of the party once Reagan was elected.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. You are correct. I just can't believe the 70s were a half century ago!

[unblock]

10. The interstate highway system

I think this actually was an Eisenhower initiative.

Nixon created the environmental protection agency, and poppy signed the Americans with disabilities act, but these were both Democratic initiatives that a Republican President merely signed.

I don't know much about the politics behind the creation of the interstate highway system, but wiki gives credit to Ike after he saw the German autobahn system.

The principal sponsor in Congress was a democrat.


I'll note that the interstate highway system does have its negative aspects, such as pollution and it likely didn't help racial integration; but it's been a huge boon for the economy and interstate travel in general.

[LifeLongDemocratic]

11. Republicans don't write legislation

Republican bills are written by the oligarchs, corporations and lobbyists that own them. ALEC for example writes a lot of the Republican legislation.

[-misanthroptimist]

12. Happy people are of no use to the Republican Party

They need people angry about something, anything. That's why they've spent the last thirty years or so just inventing threats. They want scared, angry voters to come out and vote.

[Polybius]

13. Repealing the federal speed limit in 1995

Having it set nationwide to 55 was absurd.

[Dial H For Hero]

19. To be filed under "credit where it's due".

I just bought a car in the Detroit area and drove it back to Denver. Almost 1,300 miles. It was bad enough with the cruise control set to 80....driving 55 or 60 would have been miserable.