Republicans were responsible for the lack of progress since 2008, and will be for the next two years

If progress can be defined as "development or growth", Republicans are clearly at fault for the lack we have seen since Obama took the presidency. They have blocked important legislation in the economic sector and in many other areas. Here is an example of partial list of legislation blocked by republicans leading up to the recent midterm elections that, if passed, would have been of great benefit to the United States. BLOCKED: - A bill that would have stopped companies from getting tax breaks for moving domestic jobs overseas, such as call centers and manufacturing. Damage: Eliminated US jobs. - Small Jobs Business Act: blocked once by the republicans, this bill gives small banks and businesses access to billions of loan dollars to encourage the growth of small businesses. Damage: stinted growth of small businesses. - A bill that gave benefits to homeless war veterans. - A bill to give health-care assistance to the first responders at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks who became sick because of their efforts. - Provisions in the health care bill (eventually forced through) that barred health care companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, required them to spend 85c on every dollar on actual health care, and structured their profit margins. - The Jobs bill, which gives tax incentives to companies who hire new employees. - Wall Street Reform Bill (eventually forced through) designed to prevent big banks from making the risky moves that were largely to blame for the economic crash. In looking at the above bills, it should be clear that they would either have helped us recover from the economic recession, would have been important to our national defense, or would have made important changes to government and private systems that are clearly broken. With knowledge about the republican creed and constituencies, it can be said that they are simply living up to their principles in voting against the above bills, necessary as they are. However, if proof is needed that republicans are actually opposing these bills solely on the basis of ensuring that the Obama administration does not pass any helpful legisltation, we can look to the following incidences: - Republicans authored and proposed a bill that would result in serious immigration reform. When Obama endorsed it, they voted against their own bill to ensure it would not be passed. - Similarly, republicans brought forward a renewal on the START treaty, which is a strategic Arms (nukes) reduction treaty that allows the US to monitor and review nuclear sites in Russia. When Obama endorsed it, those same republicans, even the ones that proposed the bill, voted against it. - Obama has made it clear that bi-partisanship was and still is important to him. In order to further confirm their disinterest in working together to make progress, republicans opted out of the traditional post-midterm election conference between the leaders of both parties and the president. - Mitch McConnel, the Senate minority leader, bluntly stated at a post-election speech that the primary goal of the republican party for the next two years is to ensure that Obama is a one-term president. Progress is against the interest of the republican party, whose stated goal is to remove Obama from office. They are and will be liable for the depth of damage done by this recession and the general lack of anything that can be called progress. Sources: (http://ak-elections2008.com...)(zdnet.co.uk)(huffingtonpost.com)(politico.com)