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The 'Learning Curve': Comparing Boehner's Record As Speaker With Pelosi's

The 'Learning Curve': Comparing Boehner's Record As Speaker With Pelosi's
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Reporter, HuffPost

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WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has struggled to project an image of serenity in the opening weeks of the 112th Congress while working to rein in nearly 90 freshman lawmakers.

Some Republicans have suggested that the difficulties that Boehner and the rest of the new House leadership have encountered, such as a backlash over spending cuts, are part of a natural learning curve. But when Democrats took control of the House under President George W. Bush in 2007, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) didn't have that experience.

Gaveled in on Jan. 5, 2011, Boehner presided over the passage of four bills during his first month as speaker, with a total of just 25 votes. The most notable of those was a repeal the president's signature health care law -- a move that was viewed as a strictly symbolic gesture, as it is not expected to pass or even get a vote in the Senate.

By contrast, Pelosi, gaveled in on Jan. 4, 2007, led the Democratic Congress in passing 19 bills during her first month as speaker, including all six of the bills targeted in her "First 100 Hours" agenda.

Why the discrepancy? Well, part of it is that Democratic Congress of 2007 spent more of its first month in session: As of Feb. 1, 2007, Congress had been in session for 16 days, 134 hours, and 50 minutes, according to the Congressional Record.

By contrast, this year Republican leadership determined the House would be in session for only 11 days, 62 hours, and 5 minutes of its first month, according to the Congressional Record. Some of that time was spent reading the U.S. Constitution on the House floor; original parts of the Constitution that were later amended, including sections referencing slavery, were omitted.

Florida Rep. Bill Young (R), a 38-year veteran of the House, has insisted that the GOP's legislative difficulties can be chalked up to growing pains. "The new majority has different leadership than the last time we actually were the majority. [They] have to make their own way, they have to make their own decisions, set their own policies," Young recently told Politico. "There's a learning curve for leaders. There's a learning curve for members."

HuffPost has compiled a slideshow of the top six achievements (or missteps) of Pelosi's and Boehner's first six weeks as speaker. Which do you think is the most significant accomplishment?

House Democrats 2007: Bill Enacting Recommendations Of The 9/11 Commission(01 of12)
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The bill easily passed the House on Jan. 9, 2007; the vote was 299 to 128, with 68 Republicans voted "yea." The legislation, which passed the Senate and was signed into law, implemented the national security recommendations of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 Commission.
House Republicans 2011: Reading The Constitution On The House Floor(02 of12)
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In a nod to the Tea Party activists who helped propel scores of freshmen GOP lawmakers into House and Senate seats, Republicans staged the first-ever reading of the entire Constitution on the House floor. The reading excluded original sections of the Constitution that were later amended, including references to slaves. Republican lawmakers did not initially notice that important paragraphs were left out when two pages stuck together.The reading lasted around an hour and a half.
House Democrats 2007: The Fair Minimum Wage Act(03 of12)
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The measure passed the House on Jan. 10, 2007; the vote was 315 to 116, with 82 Republicans voting "yea." The legislation increased the minimum wage for the first time in ten years, boosting the salaries of 13 million American workers.Signed into law on May 25, 2007, The Fair Minimum Wage Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, gradually raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour.
House Republicans 2011: Measure To Repeal Health Care Reform(04 of12)
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The bill passed the House on Jan. 19, 2011, with three Democrats voting "yea." The health care bill that the House would repeal allows parents to keep children on their health plans until the age of 26, bars insurers from denying service due to preexisting conditions, expands Medicaid funding dramatically and extends coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans by 2019.Repeal would put insurance companies back in charge, adding more than $200 billion to the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.The House vote is widely viewed as political theater staged by Republican leadership, as such efforts are not expected to move past the Senate.
House Democrats 2007: The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act(05 of12)
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The measure passed the House on Jan. 11, 2007; the vote was 253 to 174, with 37 Republicans voting "yea." The House voted to expand research and help unlock the promise of stem cell therapies to cure diseases and alleviate human suffering.President Bush vetoed the bill on June 19 the same year; it was not enacted into law.
House Republicans 2011: Stop The OverPrinting Act(06 of12)
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The measure passed the House on Jan. 18, 2011; the vote was 399 to 0, with 165 Democrats voting "yea." The bill eliminates the requirement that a hard copy be printed of every bill and resolution introduced by a member of Congress and makes these items available online instead.
House Democrats 2007: The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act(07 of12)
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The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act passed the House on Jan. 12, 2007; the vote was 255-170, with 24 Republicans voting "yea." It was designed to help reduce the cost of prescription drugs for seniors and people with disabilities by requiring Medicare to leverage its substantial bargaining power to buy prescription drugs at the best possible bulk prices and pass the savings on to citizens.The bill narrowly failed in the Senate.
House Democrats 2007: College Student Relief Act(08 of12)
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The College Student Relief Act passed the House on Jan. 17, 2007; the vote was 356-71, with 124 Republicans voting "yea." The legislation, which would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make college more affordable by cutting student loan interest rates in half, stalled in the Senate.
House Republicans 2011: Failure Of The Patriot Act(09 of12)
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Twenty-six Republicans voted against extending key provisions of the Patriot Act due to expire at the end of February. Republican leadership was seven votes short of passing the legislation, which would have kept three measures used by law enforcement and intelligence officials in place.Eight of the GOP lawmakers opposing the bill were freshmen. Republicans including Rep. Ron Paul of Texas have previously opposed extensions to the Patriot Act due to concerns about civil liberties.
House Republicans 2011: A Resolution Calling For Spending Cuts(10 of12)
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A budgetless resolution to reduce "non-security" spending passed the House on Jan. 25, 2011. The vote was 256 to 165, with 17 Democrats voting "yea." In another symbolic gesture, Republicans brought to the floor a one-page resolution that threatened to cut thousands of government programs, while offering no numbers or specifics on what or how much would be cut.At least one GOP lawmaker has candidly admitted the resolution was introduced only to manufacture floor debate on spending cuts in advance of the president's State of the Union address.
The Energy Independence And Security Act(11 of12)
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The Energy Independence And Security Act passed on Jan. 18, 2007; the vote was 264-163, with 36 Republicans voting "yea." The legislation was designed to make America more energy independent and help fight global warming by rolling back multi-billion dollar taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil companies and reinvesting in renewable energy resources.An amended version of the legislation passed the Senate on June 21, 2007, and was signed into law by then-President George W. Bush.
House Republicans 2011: Measure To End Public Financing For Presidential Campaigns(12 of12)
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The measure passed the House on Jan. 26, 2011; the vote was 239-160, with ten Democrats, most of them Blue Dogs, voting "yea." The bill would place control of presidential elections more squarely into the hands of corporate donors, suspending a 35-year-old program allowing taxpayers divert $3 to a general fund in the Treasury when filing taxes, without reducing their refund.

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