http://mediamatters.org/items/200708020006?f=h_latestIn an August 2 article discussing House passage of a bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, Washington Post reporter Jonathan Weisman wrote: "The legislation would launch the most significant growth in federal health care in a decade, and Democrats hope it will fortify their members as they head home soon for the summer recess amid voter perception that they have accomplished little since taking control of Congress." However, Weisman did not report the Republicans' role in blocking Democratic initiatives, which has occurred at an unprecedented rate, according to McClatchy Newspapers -- apparently as part of what Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-MS) has reportedly described as an "obstructionist" strategy.
As Media Matters for America documented, in a July 30 article discussing a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, Weisman similarly omitted Senate Republicans' role in obstructing Democratic legislation while reporting Republican attacks on a "do-nothing" Democratic Congress.
As Media Matters noted, a July 20 McClatchy article reported: "This year Senate Republicans are threatening filibusters to block more legislation than ever before." McClatchy continued: "Nearly 1 in 6 roll-call votes in the Senate this year have been cloture votes. If this pace of blocking legislation continues, this 110th Congress will be on track to roughly triple the previous record number of cloture votes." Further, an April 18 Roll Call article quoted (subscription required) Lott acknowledging that the GOP is employing an "obstructionist" strategy in the Senate: "The strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail. ... For Daschle (S.D.), it failed. For
Reid , it succeeded, and so far it's working for us."
From the August 2 edition of the The Washington Post:
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