Ari Melber on Republican Obstruction (with chart)

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Ari Melber (The Nation):

House Republicans are set to vote down President Obama's health care law for the 33rd time, although it is the first repeal vote since the Supreme Court upheld most of the law as constitutional.

The GOP's constant reiteration of its opposition to the President's largest domestic achievement has reduced legislating to message discipline -- and the political class continues to debate the wisdom of this strategy.

But whether or not this is "smart political theater," the Republicans' eagerness to clog Congress with symbolic votes is a sharp contrast to all the jobs legislation that they have bottled up. Remember when President Obama pushed hard for a massive jobs and stimulus plan, the American Jobs Act, which would inject over $400 billion into the economy? The program was even "tilted heavily toward the Republican prescription of tax cuts," as Bloomberg reported after the President went all out for the plan in an address to a joint session of Congress. A majority backed the Jobs Act in the Senate, but Republicans filibustered, and in the House, they never even scheduled a floor vote for the bill: MORE...