Amid today’s bitter political divides, there is one thing on which Democrats and Republicans agree: The United States Senate is a miserable place to work. By any measure, the Senate’s recent legislative activity is pathetic. Senators appear to be frustrated with the status quo. They claim to want it to change.
While senators disagree on precisely how to fix the Senate, they agree Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has the power to do so. Take, for example, Bernie Sanders’ recent assertion that McConnell was preventing senators from debating and voting on legislation. According to Sanders, “There’s very little that’s going in the Senate, it is a do-nothing body, and that is because of McConnell.” Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, has claimed “McConnell abdicates the role of the legislature” by refusing to consider gun safety legislation until President Trump signs off on it.
