Jonathan Bernstein draws attention to Senate Republicans using every parliamentary mechanism available to gum up the confirmation process for judges and executive branch officials. There is a huge backlog of appointees requiring confirmation, resulting in scores of vacant positions. The number of hours the Senate is in session is finite and Republicans are running out the clock to limit what gets done.
Bernstein, who describes the bundle of delaying tactics employed to bog down the Senate as a "blanket filibuster," offers this description:
It used to be the case that the Senate would quickly confirm all remaining non-controversial nominations before beginning an extended recess. That meant that when the Senate returned from its August recess in 2002, during President George W. Bush’s second year in the White House, there were fewer than five full pages of nominations (with about five to eight nominations per page) ready for a floor vote on the Senate executive calendar, even with a slim Democratic majority in the Senate. But when the Senate returned this week, there were 18 pages of nominations.
Since it’s up to the majority party to schedule the order in which business is conducted, the most urgent positions, such as circuit court judges or cabinet nominations, get approved. It’s the second, third and fourth-tier positions that remain in limbo. It’s very hard to see what this accomplishes for Republicans, given that no one is going to vote against Democratic senators or a Democratic president because Republicans successfully filibustered a bunch of no-name assistant secretaries of obscure agencies. But they’re doing it nonetheless, and it’s damaging, because collectively all those empty desks add up.
"It’s very hard to see what this accomplishes for Republicans ...," except it gums up the works for Senate Democrats and their ally in the White House. Which makes legislating more difficult, makes running executive agencies more difficult, and limits the number of judicial confirmations.
Democrats are the party of government -- intent on implementing public policies to address social problems for their constituents. Washington Republicans' primary agenda is to reduce taxes on their rich donors (and pare down their regulatory burden). Public programs to address social problems cost money, requiring tax revenue (while rulemaking and enforcement require both well-functioning executive agencies and judges not committed to the GOP agenda). In the contemporary United States, the rich have the lion's share of wealth and rich Republicans don't wish to part with it. Gumming up the works in the Senate makes perfect sense.
A dysfunctional Senate can't be responsive to the American public. Paralysis creates frustration, anger, and cynicism. Trust in government diminishes, as does trust in the party of government. The message to the voting public is, Don't look to government to solve public problems. Don't expect policy choices made in Washington to benefit you in any tangible way.
This message is designed to discourage Democratic constituencies because Democratic candidates, who pledged to make their lives better, haven't kept their promises. This message seeks to deter Democratic-leaning voters (especially occasional voters), who expect government to improve their lives and their communities, from voting at all. The takeaway, which benefits Republicans, is, Don't bother voting. It's a waste of time.
The same message -- government can't solve problems for Americans -- aims to keep GOP middle and working class voters focused on culture wars, not to have their heads turned toward possible policies that could change their life circumstances for the better. The GOP base, instead, is directed to view voting primarily as an angry rebuke of political opponents. Voting is symbolic, a reaffirmation of the red team. Voting isn't a means to endorse changes that improve one's life. It is a way to smite liberals.
Mitch McConnell and his caucus are sticking it to the blue team every day.
P.S. A possible silver lining: one reason for McConnell's "candidate quality" problem is almost certainly because reasonable Republicans, committed to governing rather than obstruction, are uninterested in joining the broken chamber fashioned by the Republican leader, which may result in a larger Democratic majority.