We’re going to hear the word bipartisan quite often this session.
And well we should.
The public wants the two parties to work together, and we should try to do so.
Today we had an example of bipartisanship between labor and business.
The issue was the Governor’s veto of the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act
The bill would require businesses with 15 or more employers to provide paid sick leave.
When the bill was introduced, it applied to businesses with ten or more employees.
This change was one of 30 amendments adopted at the request of the business community.
“Advocates feel they’ve compromised enough,” said the chairman of the committee that considered the bill.
That’s a compromise. That’s bipartisanship.
Governor Hogan’s veto was overridden by the House, 88-52.
Every Republican voted with the Governor. One Democrat joined them.
In this instance, however, bipartisanship had already produced a compromise bill with those 30 amendments.
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E.J. Dionne writes about the virtual impossibility of compromise in Washington in his most recent op-ed. It begins:
There is a reason bipartisan government is so hard these days. It’s not because “both parties” are intransigent or because “both parties” have moved to the “extremes.” It’s because what were once widely seen as moderate, common-sense solutions are pushed off the table by a far right that defines compromise as acquiescence to its agenda.
