Republicans earning ‘Party of No’ label

On Feb. 1, the labor commissioner from the state of New York, Patricia Smith, was approved by the Senate to serve as the solicitor general at the Department of Labor. For most of us, this is a story about someone we had never heard of being approved for a position we had never heard of, but there is more to the story.

This should have been a routine approval and a few years ago it would have been. It was not. The Republicans attempted a filibuster and all 40 Republican senators supporting the filibuster. To counter this, all 60 Democratic senators came to support Smith.

There were no reasons of substance to oppose Smith and the reasons given were petty at best. She was supported by New York business groups, various chambers of commerce and all of the GOP members of the New York delegation.

The real reason the Republicans opposed her was obvious - President Barack Obama had nominated her. Opposition to each and every thing that Obama does has become their top priority.

Lately, Obama has endorsed some traditional Republican ideas (offshore oil drilling, tax cuts for small businesses and a commission on deficit reduction) and the Republicans have opposed him even on these issues.

The Republicans don't like to be called “the Party of No” but the shoe fits.

Richard Greer

Cedar Rapids