http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/02/02/mcconnell-lets-slip-republicans-plan-on-doing-nothing-in-2016-and-the-reason-is-infuriating/
"For years Republican politicians have been held hostage by a radical fringe of their base that says any bipartisan cooperation means you aren’t a “true” conservative. Just passing a bill to give more support to veterans is considered a “betrayal” to the party if it means working with Democrats. You accomplish exclusively conservative goals or you don’t accomplish anything at all. McConnell, with all the backbone of a snail, isn’t taking any chances. He’ll wait out the election and hope that voters focus on how his party never once compromised with “the enemy,” and not, say, on the fact that they hadn’t done their jobs for 12 months. How does he plan to cover his tracks? It’s shameless – but kind of clever. McConnell plans to intentionally slow down and string out the dozen annual appropriations bills. Those can be addressed individually and, if time is properly squandered, can go on pretty much indefinitely. By the end of the year, with 12 appropriations bills in hand, he can brag about having done something. Just not very much. When we think about how the election cycle brings out the worst in politicians, we typically picture the attack ads, the rat race, the pettiness. There’s another side: The craven attempt to cling onto jobs by a group of people who demonstrably do not deserve them. It means in this crucial year, when the United States faces a ton of major challenges, Americans will be treated to nothing – and all because a few politicians are worried what their most toxic supporters would think if they actually bothered show up to work."
