How snow-plowing policy is made in the nation’s capital

How snow-plowing policy is made in the nation’s capital

Obama announces that he wants to get the snow plowed, but that he wants bipartisan consensus and compromise instead of unilateral action, and that instead of him pushing a particular snow-plowing policy, he wants Congress to work out the details.

The Republicans, seeing that Obama is for cleaning up the snow, decide that they must be against it. They negotiate the plan down to clearing half the snow and doing it very slowly. Then they still refuse to support it. Joe Lieberman expresses his intention to join Republicans in filibustering the plan if it comes to that.

Eventually, the Republicans and Senate Democrats have whittled it down to a non-binding resolution expressing support for the idea of ‘somebody’ plowing the snow at some point in the future, and the Democrats have thrown in some tax cuts to get 60 votes.


It finally passes, still getting zero Republican votes (other than Olympia Snowe, since it reminds her of her name).

Republicans attribute this to Democrats’ hyper-partisanship and unwillingness to negotiate. At this point, it is July.