Watershed Moment: Carper calls (House) Republicans “irresponsible”

This is a real bellwether for how far the nation has turned against Republicans. If the cautious to the point of being a mincing and flacid dandy, Tom Carper can call out the GOP so directly, there is now nothing anyone can possibly lose by telling the truth about the GOP.

September 24, 2013
Right now, Congress has one job and that is to help continue our economic recovery. Rather than do that, though, last week, House Republicans decided to use our economy’s fragile recovery and the day-to-day operation of our government as political pawns in yet another desperate attempt to defund and derail the Affordable Care Act.

Let me be clear, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It has passed Congress, has been signed into law by the President, has stood up in the Supreme Court and was a key point of debate during the 2012 elections. It is the height of irresponsibility to hold our economy and government hostage over an issue that was settled long ago.

I often like to say that governance is a lot like a successful marriage. Both parties must come together and practice “the two C’s”-Communication and Compromise. Unfortunately, good governance is impossible when one party refuses to do either. I recently spoke with WPVI in Delaware about these principles; a short clip of my interview is below:

I hope House Republicans will soon come to the realization that their recent political posturing is irresponsible and is jeopardizing our economic recovery. What we need now more than ever is to come together, Republicans and Democrats, to begin communicating and compromising over the budget, the debt and how to create jobs. This is the way we do things in Delaware and, frankly, it should be the way we do things here in Washington.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and insight into the issues at hand. Let me know what you think needs to be done.
Sincerely,

He can’t quite bring himself to criticize his fellow Senators, but this is a watershed moment. In the ten years (or so) that I’ve been paying close attention to Carper he has never let on that the GOP was anything other than stalwart partner in rational government.