Dysfunction in Congress Creates Clinton-Accord Nostalgia
By Michael Tackett - Mar 4, 2013
U.S. Representative Sander Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, recalls his last substantive issue discussion with a Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.
It was 13 years ago.
He and Bill Thomas, then a Republican congressman from California who served as the committee’s chairman, came to an agreement on a trade deal with China. It required give and take, then compromise, he said in an interview. Levin, 82, hasn’t seen that happen on “truly substantive” legislation since.
The $85 billion in automatic budget cuts that started March 1 -- reductions crafted to be so arbitrary and damaging that they would not actually occur -- exemplify the dysfunction in Washington that he has seen been building for the last 20 years.
And Levin isn’t alone.
“I see it getting worse before it gets better,” said Representative Peter King of New York, a Republican. “Too many people in Congress have not been in politics before, and they are not used to the give and take. They don’t understand the necessity of compromise. Ronald Reagan used to take his principles to the table, and make the best deal you can.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-04/dysfunction-in-congress-creates-clinton-accord-nostalgia.html
