Brookings study points to Harry Reid and Senate Democrats as source of gridlock

By Joel Gehrke

Published January 14, 2014 5:00am ET

Brookings study points to Harry Reid and Senate Democrats as source of gridlock — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said last week that the only way to reform gridlock in the Senate is "by working, and talking, and cooperating, through give and take." (Photo: Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner) | Graeme Jennings

Brookings Institution scholars, inspired by baseball statistics, conducted an analysis of the 113th Congress that points rather directly at the Democrat-controlled Senate as a the locus of congressional gridlock.

The analysis opens with the observation that the House, contrary to expectation, passed twice as many bills as the Senate in 2013. Why? Because of the Senate committee process.