Fighting Quartet Leading U.S. Congress Slowed by Seven Years of Grudge
By Richard Rubin and Kathleen Hunter - Jan 9, 2014
As the U.S. Congress’s approval ratings drop to historic lows, one thing that hasn’t changed is the people in charge.
John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell this week began their eighth year as the leaders running Congress. That’s longer than any other foursome has worked together since the Senate formalized its leadership structure in the 1920s.
As Congress this year tries to avoid a government shutdown, avert a debt default and break a cycle of dysfunction, the quartet carries the residue of past conflicts: the financial system rescue in 2008, trips to the brink of default in 2011 and 2013 and last-minute deals to extend tax cuts in 2010 and 2012.
“It’s the old cliche -- how do porcupines make love?” said former Representative Martin Frost, a Texas Democrat. “And the answer to that is very carefully. So they have to be able to work together.”
Complicating matters further, the four leaders will each be angling to keep power in their own parties and expand their ranks in the November election, when the entire House and one-third of the Senate will be on the ballot. That means the leaders will try to score political points and negotiate bipartisan solutions at the same time.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-09/fighting-quartet-atop-congress-slowed-by-years-of-grudges.html
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