Posted on 12/09/2014 5:24:57 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Republicans are split over whether to change the Senate’s rules to allow filibusters on executive and judicial nominations.
As they head into a conference meeting on Tuesday, some Republicans say it’s time to undo a wrong committed by Democratic Leader Harry Reid and go back to rules that require 60 votes to clear most nominees.
“I think it’s rank hypocrisy if we don’t,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said when asked about reversing the rule change.
“If we don’t, then disregard every bit of complaint that we made, not only after they did it but also during the campaign,” he added. “I’m stunned that some people want to keep it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Change it back so the democrats have an easier time screwing over the republican majority.
That’ll teach them a lesson!!!
/s
“Don’t wag your finger too hard at them. Many people on FR want to keep it too for some reason.”
I want it also. My reasoning is simple. First off, before doing it, use it to change something major that Obama is trying to do. Then when Obama and the Media go on a tear about Republicans using the nuke option, it can be laid directly at the feet of Harry Reid and Obama. “Hey, we didn’t want to do this, but Harry Reid and Obama set the precedent.”
Now you put it back and be the responsible adult.
Only when they break for a cigarette.
Keep it until 2016, or at least for the same length of time it has been in effect under Reid.
The kabuki dances that these political degenerates always do are tiresome.
This really is a no brainer.
1. Reinstate the filibuster for presidential appointments so any 40 Republicans can block any of Obama’s far left wing appointments.Remember that Obama’s judicial appointments will be legislating from the bench for the next 30 years.
2. Unilaterally abolish the filibuster for legislation so the Democrats cannot block anything from passing Congress. Then immediately start passing legislation that is popular with the public but that the hard core Democrat base hates. Make Obama spend the next 2 years vetoing popular legislation.
Don’t worry about it coming back to haunt Republicans someday when the Democrats retake control of the Senate. That was the argument against using the nuclear option when Democrats were blocking Bush’s judicial appointments.
Harry Reid has proven that Democrats will do whatever they want when they are in control regardless of what the Republicans do or do not do to them.
Democrats made the first nuclear strike. The correct response is to nuke them out of existence.
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VERY well stated. Let’s think strategically folks. There is NO need to be “nice” to the ‘RATS who will stab us in our backs at each and every opportunity.
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Just use it like they used it. Then sometime in the future, they can make a deal with the Democrats to restore it. But the unilateral surrender caucus of the GOP will prevail.
The only advantage to eliminating the 60-vote requirement is to let the majority party approve a presidential nominee whom the minority opposes. Or to let the minority pick off enough soft members of the majority party to accomplish that.IOW, there is no point to eliminating the filibuster in this session of Congress. The correct course of action is to go back to normal rules - and submit a constitutional amendment proposal to Congress. If 2/3 of Congress wants the nominee filibuster to remain intact after 2016, they can restore that tradition permanently via constitutional amendment. If no amendment passes, then the next time either party controls the WH and the senate majority, the Reid Rule will be the precedent, and the filibuster of presidential nominees will be a dead letter.
Harry Reid unilaterally eliminated the filibuster, but only for presidential appointments (including all judicial appointments except Supreme Court). Let’s examine why he eliminated what he did.
Allowing a filibuster of presidential appointments only benefits the party opposing the current president, in other words, Republicans. The Democrats keep voting lockstep to affirm every soap opera producer and hard core leftist that Obama appoints.
Reid did not eliminate the filibuster of Supreme Court appointments simply because there were no vacancies on the Court. If a vacancy had come open and Republicans had started making any noise about a filibuster then Reid would have unilaterally eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court appointments as well. Remember, Reid did not eliminate the filibuster as part of the regular adoption of rules at the beginning of the session. He did it unilaterally in the middle of the session simply because he decided that he wanted to.
So the first thing the Republicans should do is reinstate the filibuster of all presidential appointments. At the very least, reinstate the filibuster for all judicial appointments. The soap opera producers and hard core leftists that Obama names for cabinet and ambassador posts will be gone in a couple of years. Obama’s judicial appointments will be legislating from the bench for a generation to come.
Reid did not eliminate the filibuster for legislation because it would not have benefited him at all to do so. After the Democrats lost their veto proof majority in the Senate, the Democrats started making noises about “filibuster reform” of the legislative filibuster. That stopped once the Republicans took control of the House. From then on, it was pointless for Reid to do anything about legislative filibusters, since the House Republicans effectively had veto power over any legislation that Reid could push through the Senate. Reid did not allow any legislation that he did not want passed to even have a vote on the floor of the Senate.
So the next thing the Republicans should do is eliminate the legislative filibuster under the name of “filibuster reform.” At the very least, make the Democrats do a good old fashioned Mr. Smith Goes to Washington talk-until-you-drop filibuster any time that they want to try and stop legislation from passing the Republican controlled Congress.
In 2016, if a Republican is elected President and the Republicans hold onto the Senate, then they can change the rules again to eliminate Democrat filibusters of all Republican presidential appointments. If the Democrats take back the Senate, then I absolutely guarantee that they will change the rules to however it suits them.
If John McCain is willing to resign, to have a replacement seated by Doug Ducey, as payment to change the rules then I am all for it.
To the Senile er, ah, Senior Senator of Arizona John McCain, Put your interest in restoring the filibuster rules before your selfish career interests. If you are willing to sacrifice the rest of current term then I will support changing the rules back to what they were. One last thing, do you think your daughter might benefit from some CIA dietary manipulation as outlined in the recent Democrat report on terrorism prevention. I heard a prisoner lost 50lbs. Something to think about.
Americans voted to get rid of the cesspool the RATs created, stop being so damn stupid!
Exactly - that is the Reid precedent.The Reid precedent is not limited to the specifics of what Reid did - it is the fact that Reid did whatever helped Harry Reid. Therefore, as I said, there being no benefit to the Republicans to disallow the filibuster of Obama nominees, the Republicans should allow it.
But they might as well be upfront about the fact that, in 2016 if they have control and a Republican takes the WH, they will follow the Reid precedent and do precisely what is convenient to the Republicans. That, and not some wimpy “see, we’re really nice guys” pose, would set the preconditions for passage of a constitutional amendment to regularize the rules for all cases going forward. The Republicans, in charge of both houses of Congress in 2015, should take the lead in formulating the language of such an amendment.
The POTUS has no authority in the question of proposed amendments; either 2/3 of both houses go along, or they don’t. If 2/3 of both houses agree, majority approval by the legislatures of 3/4 of the states presumably would follow in due course.
I agree. The Democrats used it against Republicans, Now let them see the effects of their dastardly moves.
I predict they will do what ever they are told to do, regardless of what we the people want, even if we actually knew what we wanted.
Give us a king to rule over us, then we shall do all the things which thou command.(loose quote)
It is not so much tat Rats stab us in the back, it is the GOPe that kills us.
Somehow, we just all knew that McCain would be the first to bend over after a major victory for his side. Or what is allegedly his side.
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