Free Republic

This Saturday’s Senate vote on National health care for America looks likely to turn into a long, drawn-out bloodbath as all 40 of the Republicans in the chamber have vowed to filibuster the bill. Even moderate Republican Olympia Snowe has said she will participate in the fillibuster against Obamacare. Democrats need to only get 60 votes to proceed to debate, where they only need a majority to pass the bill. This will allow Democrat Senators vulnerable in their re-election 2010 bids a John-Kerry-esque “I voted for the bill before I voted against it” line of politicking, where they can vote...

We need to peel off one Democrat to kill this thing. For those of you glued to your laptops when the abortion known as PelosiCare was passed a couple of weeks ago, this Saturday's fight in the Senate will consist of 10 hours of debate, which were won by Republicans in return for their not having the entire bill read on the floor. According to Roll Call (subscription required, but the snippet is there), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) will join the other 39 Republicans in the filibuster. The first vote is scheduled for 8:00 p.m., so, if my math is correct,...

Senate Republican aides say that Harry Reid has scheduled the first vote on his health-care bill for Saturday night for 8:00 p.m. after 10 hours of floor debate. Ed Morrissey notes that registered voters oppose the House health care bill 51 percent to 35 percent; a poll done by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling shows registered voters oppose "President Obama’s health care plan" 52 percent to 40 percent. All eyes are on Democratic senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska to see if he will vote Saturday night on the motion to proceed. Nelson is threatening to filibuster the final bill...

Barack Obama is not the only one giving a shout out. On Monday’s edition of MSNBC's The Ed Show Nation magazine editor Katrina vanden Heuvel hailed the godfather of community organizers: The great community organizer Saul Alinsky talked about organized people vs. organized money. We are seeing the mugging of the common good everyday. How can the Left continue to claim anyone- seeking to understand its motives or modus by reading Alinsky’s writings is paranoid?The show also represented the continuation of Katrina's self-contradiction tour on the issue of the filibuster. Now that Republicans are filibustering socialism, she is in...

Last week in a dramatic announcement, Senator Joe Lieberman announced that he will vote along with the Republican Party to filibuster the Obamacare bill in the senate. It was a big blow to the Democratic efforts to take over our healthcare, so big that Senator Tom Harken threatened to throw Lieberman out of the Democratic Caucus. Yesterday Senator Reid's office reported that the Majority Leader and the Connecticut Senator reached a secret deal where the Senator will not vote for a filibuster but will continue to vote against the bill in the final roll call: But sources said Reid’s staff...

Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any health care reform bill that has a public option - even the version with the "trigger" compromise accepted by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe - because it might cost money. "I think that a lot of people may think that the public option is free," said Lieberman, one of the Senate's big spenders, in a suddenly frugal mood. "It's not. It's going to cost the taxpayers and people that have health insurance now, and if it...

Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee will boycott the markup of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill if Chairwoman Barbara Boxer tries to take it up next week. The seven Republican members on the committee met on the Senate floor last night and unanimously agreed to a boycott, according to Republican aides. Boxer told POLITICO on Thursday that she plans to mark up the bill on Tuesday, scheduling that requires noticing the hearing on Friday. As of noon, no notice had been issued. Democrats have a 12-7 majority on the committee, so Boxer doesn’t need any Republican votes to...

Senator Tom Harkin did everything but place a horse's head in Joe Lieberman's bed as he discussed the Connecticut Senator's Decision to join a filibuster of any Obamacare bill which contains the public option. He implied that if Lieberman , and independent, voted for the filibuster he would lose his committee chairmanship and would no longer be allowed to caucus with the Democratic Party: Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, told reporters that Lieberman (I-Conn.) ought to consider the benefits of his membership in the Democratic caucus before he decides how to vote on healthcare reform....

Here is video of a CNN Report which talks about the history of "filibusters" in the U.S. Senate. Strom Thurmond holds the record for talking more than 24 hours himself in a filibuster to stop the Civil Rights Act of 1957. A filibuster to stop the Civil Rights Act of 1964 lasted for 57 days, which is the longest ever. . . (VIDEO)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a development, first reported by TPMDC, that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will filibuster a health care bill if it includes a public option. "Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid's problems," Reid told reporters at his weekly press conference. During a Q&A session with reporters, Reid offered a fairly spirited defense of Lieberman, signaling perhaps that he doesn't believe Lieberman will ultimately be an obstacle--or at least that he doesn't want to tip his hat: "I don't have anyone that I've worked harder with, have more respect for, in the Senate than Joe...

Romney for Senate? Succeeding Kennedy Could Help in 2012 By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blogThough it may be hard to see at first, the passing of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts may have a profound impact on 2012's race for the GOP presidential nomination.Back when Sen. John F. Kerry was his party's presidential nominee, the Massachusetts Legislature—which is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats—changed the law to require that a special election be held after a vacancy occurs in one of its U.S. Senate seats rather than allow Republican Gov. Mitt Romney to make an appointment if Kerry had won.The...

ERIC BOLLING, GUEST HOST: The health care debate is raging across the country, facing massive GOP opposition. Now, you hear people talk a lot about reconciliation and the nuclear option when it comes to getting a bill passed. But beware of politicians speaking jargon, some of the words become more confusing. What does it really mean? Joining me now is our guest, Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist and author of the best-selling book, "Guilty." Ann, thanks for coming on the program. You know, we've been watching this thing and it goes from — I don't know — a single-payer system to...

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: All right, is the plan to go nuclear? Are the Senate Democrats fed up and fired up, and are they going to invoke the nuclear option and push through health care reform? Democrats might use the nuclear option, which is slang for a parliamentary procedure called "reconciliation" to get health care reform passed.

(Disclaimer: The following is simply a brutal Machiavellian political analysis, and is not intended in any way to celebrate another's physical misfortune) Democrats were giddy when Al Franken was declared the winner of the Minnesota Senate race, and for understandably good reason - they finally, but barely, had a filibuster-proof majority in that Body. And so they now press forward with their controversial healthcare legislation, confident that Republicans - and everyone else opposed - can do nothing to stop it. But wait. One of those Senate votes is in serious decline - Sen. Ted Kennedy. Again, speaking in cold-blooded political...

This past spring, Senator Claire McCaskill wrote to me asking for $50 to help elect more Democrats, so we could have a filibuster-proof Senate. Now that Al Franken has finally been declared the sixtieth Democratic senator, her plea may seem moot. But even with Franken in office, we don't have a filibuster-proof Senate. To get to sixty on the Democratic side, we'll still have to cut deals. Maybe we should start sending postcards like the following: "Dear Senator: Why do you keep asking for my money? You've already got the fifty-one votes you need to get rid of the filibuster...

60 votes not so super for Obama, Senate DemocratsBy: LAURIE KELLMAN The Associated Press July 4, 2009 Congress returns for its midsummer session Monday with a Senate supermajority not super enough for President Barack Obama's top priorities to pass without Republican support. The seating of Minnesota Sen. Al Franken will give Democrats the filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in the Senate, but only on paper. Absences by two ailing senators mean the party can count only 58 votes, and then only if Majority Leader Harry Reid can herd two independents and the independent streaks of 55 others behind Obama's biggest initiatives: expanded...

Not a whole lot to be happy about with this win by Franken but at least now they own everything. They have a filibuster proof Senate. Either everything they have whined about for the last eight years gets fixed or they are outright liars. Scott said it best in the comments: DEMS OWN IT NOW. What’s it? IT is EVERYTHING. 2010 midterms: if unemployment is still worse than when Obama took office, it’s their faultif GDP is still falling it’s Democrats’ faultif every American-EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN and most illegal aliens-don’t have the same high-quality/free medical coverage as Barack Obama…it’s their...

June 25, 2009, 4:00 a.m. In Praise of Supreme Court Filibusters A view from beyond partisanship. By John O. McGinnis & Michael B. Rappaport With every recent Supreme Court nomination, senators and commentators have debated whether it is appropriate for senators to filibuster nominees. With a dreary predictability, Democratic senators argue in favor of the appropriateness of filibusters only when Republicans nominate justices and Republican senators argue in their favor only when Democratic presidents nominate justices. In Washington, constitutional provisions and desirable procedures often mysteriously change their meaning with every election, as each party molds rules to its partisan...

Just as the House of Representatives was getting ready to vote on a sweeping energy bill that its backers said would reduce the nation's carbon emissions and encourage development of renewable energy, House GOP Leader John Boehner took to the floor.

"House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) slowed Democrats’ attempt to pass a sweeping climate-change legislation Friday evening, reading page-by-page through a 300-page Democratic amendment before allowing a roll call vote." "Boehner, whose move threatened to postpone a vote well into the evening – on a day that has already seen hours of contentious debate. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), one of the bill’s sponsors, interrupted Boehner’s filibuster with a parliamentary inquiry as to whether there was any limit to how long the Ohio Republican could speak – and suggested that he was hoping to talk so...

MEDIA ADVISORY, June 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week, a letter is being hand-delivered to every member of the United States Senate imploring conservatives to join Senator Jim DeMint's filibuster of the pending Hate Crimes bill, which would criminalize preaching the Gospel and put preachers in the crosshairs. The letter explains that, in its current form, the Hate Crimes legislation would: "Silence the moral voice of the Church" -- "Punish principled dissent from the homosexual agenda" -- "Be a savage and perhaps fatal blow to First Amendment freedom of expression" -- and "Empower the left and encourage it to move...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday said Senate Republicans are reserving their right to filibuster the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. McConnell acknowledged on CBS’s "Face that Nation" his own past stance against filibustering judges, but he said Democrats paved the way for a possible Sotomayor filibuster by filibustering appeals court nominee Miguel Estrada during the Bush administration. “I have consistently opposed filibustering judges – did it during the Clinton years – but I lost that fight,” McConnell said. “The Senate will filibuster judges. That precedent was established – ironically enough – on a...

We are told by the likes of Schumer and Obama that to oppose the nomination of Sotomayor is to "spew nonsense." As if asking the right questions of a nominee is not responsible, patriotic and vital. Miguel Estrada was a talented Hispanic nominee for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals who was opposed vehemently in 2003 by these same Democrats, in part because he was Hispanic, and {shudder} might have someday become the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. But is not a flaming liberal! { At Estrada’s confirmation hearing, Schumer called him “a stealth candidate, flying under the radar, heading...

First President in US History to Have Voted to Filibuster a Supreme Court Nominee Now Hopes for Clean Process May 30, 2009 1:08 PM President Obama's expressed hope today in his weekly address "that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this (Supreme Court nomination) process, and Congress, in the past" runs against another historical first for the 44th president: his unique role in history as the first US President to have ever voted to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee. So while there is little indication Republicans intend to filibuster President Obama's nominee for...

Leading Senate Republicans indicated Sunday that a filibuster on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely, though they also promised not to shy away from what they characterized as a troubling judicial record. Reflecting the delicate political balancing act of opposing the nation's first Hispanic nominee for the Supreme Court, they also pushed back against those conservative commentators who were quick to paint Sotomayor as a racist. "I don't think that the need for filibuster will be there unless we have not had a chance to look at the record fully," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, told...

President Obama's expressed hope today in his weekly address "that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this (Supreme Court nomination) process, and Congress, in the past" runs against another historical first for the 44th president: his unique role in history as the first US President to have ever voted to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee. So while there is little indication Republicans intend to filibuster President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the GOP will likely invoke the President's unique history whenever he calls their tactics into question. In January...

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, is saying for the first time that he thinks the GOP won't push for a filibuster on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to succeed David Souter on the Supreme Court. "The nominee has serious problems," Sessions said on CNN Wednesday morning. "But I would think that we would all have a good hearing, take our time and do it right. And then the senators cast their vote up or down based on whether or not they think this is the kind of judge that should be on the court. ... I...

The Senate's No. 2 Republican on Sunday refused to rule out a filibuster if President Barack Obama seeks a Supreme Court justice who decides cases based on "emotions or feelings or preconceived ideas." Sen. Jon Kyl made clear he would use the procedural delay if Obama follows through on his pledge to nominate someone who takes into account human suffering and employs empathy from the bench. The Arizona Republican acknowledged that his party likely does not have enough votes to sustain a filibuster, but he said nonetheless he would try to delay or derail the nomination if Obama ventures outside...

Jan. 30--WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama said he would vote Monday to filibuster Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court, but he conceded the effort would be futile and criticized Democrats for failing to persuade Americans to take notice of the court's changing ideological face.

Specter Calls for ‘Revolution’ and ‘Uprising’ Against Republicans 'Far to the Right' Thursday, April 30, 2009 By Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) - There ought to be a “rebellion” and an “uprising” against right-wing elements that are trying to purify the Republican Party, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said Tuesday, shortly after he announced he would leave the Grand Old Party to become a Democrat. Specter said Republicans "far to the right" in the party, who are more worried about ideology than winning elections, have brought about one costly defeat after another for the GOP, including the tabling of 34...

The Republican who never was cemented his position in the popular kids clique today. The Arlen Specter/GOP relationship has been one-way from its inception: he takes cash when he needs to be reelected then votes with the Democrats when it is important. His exit doesn't really do much other than enable the RNC to spend its money on someone who won't crap all over the party. Whether it will actually do that remains to be seen. My faith in who the party supports financially is practically nonexistent. This will invariably be portrayed as one man simply sticking to his convictions...

If President Obama believes so much in open government, why is he trying to block an honest, open debate in Congress over his health-care scheme? Blocking debate is precisely what's behind the effort by the White House and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to fast-track health-care reform via a parliamentary trick called "reconciliation." Such a process would drastically limit the ability by Republicans and other Democrats to slow down or amend legislation that could reshape one-sixth of the US economy. And just maybe destroy the best health-care system on earth. "Reconciliation" is a parliamentary device originally intended to limit Senate...

Republican Senators are unlikely to organize a filibuster against Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), President Obama's HHS secretary nominee, bolstering the chances that she will be confirmed by a full Senate vote, CQ HealthBeat reports. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, on Wednesday said that although he plans to vote against Sebelius during the full Senate vote, he will not vote to sustain a filibuster. Grassley also suggested that Republican leaders might not attempt to organize one. "It's going to move ahead. And if she gets 51 votes, she is our nominee," Grassley said....

Hamilton is the worst of Obama's 15 new liberal appeals court appointees. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals covers Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois. Since most cases never reach the Supreme Court, the federal appellate circuits often provide the last word on cases affecting life and liberty. READ THE FACTS: The Judicial Confirmation Network quickly opposed Hamilton's nomination, stating that "President Obama's first nominee to the federal appeals courts -- specifically the appeals court based in Chicago -- is an ultra-liberal named David Hamilton who is a former fundraiser for ACORN and former leader of the Indiana chapter of the ACLU....

Abortion, Fraud and HHS nominee Sebelius: Vote this week The following is taking a stand on "moral grounds". It is not against the policy of the Knights of Columbus to act against Late Term Abortion -- nor speak out against it. The case of Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius gives a unique oppourtunity for the Knights of Columbus to act. She had fraudulently misrepresented the amount of money given to her campaign for governor by one of the "most notorious late term abortionists in the country" -- George Tiller. The US Senate was set to vote for...

On the eve of George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001, I cautioned fellow Democrats against "delaying or denying confirmation of nominees to cabinet and subcabinet posts." I argued on these pages that blocking executive nominees would weaken the presidency and be counterproductive for the opposition: "If a president cannot promptly place his chosen people in key offices, he can hardly be held fully responsible for the missteps of the administration." In the past few years, many Republican senators have agreed, saying that it is unacceptable to filibuster a nominee submitted to the Senate for its "advice and consent." Some Republicans...

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania told a Republican lawyers group Friday their party should take the filibuster off the table as an option against President Obama's judicial nominations. The word filibuster should not come out of the lips of Republican senators," Santorum told a gathering of the Republican National Lawyers Association in Washington. He said "any idea of a filibuster is folly" given the slim chances of success....

... Republicans are in a tizzy because Democrats are threatening to use the budgetary procedure known as reconciliation — it reconciles policy with fiscal guidelines — to overhaul the health care system, possibly enact climate change legislation and rewrite education policy. They have good reason to fret: If Democrats successfully invoke reconciliation, such major bills could pass by a simple majority vote, denying Republicans the filibuster, their sole remaining weapon to influence federal policy given the Democratic grip on government. “It stinks,” Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said as he pondered the prospect of Democrats pulling the trigger on...

If anyone were still in doubt as to the importance of a Senate filibuster, we'd point them to Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter's announcement yesterday that he will not support "card check." Maybe Big Labor won't be able to up-end the economy, after all. Mr. Specter's decision means Republicans now have 41 votes against "card check" -- legislation that would do away with secret ballots in union organization elections. The Pennsylvanian was the only Senate Republican to have previously voted in favor of a debate on the bill, and as such had been the target of a furious lobbying fight by...

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democratic leaders and the Obama White House are likely to use a parliamentary procedure to win passage this year of a national health-insurance program, people familiar with the discussions said Thursday. For Congress to pass such a monumental program using a special maneuver would be unusual. But the tactic -- allowing legislation to pass the Senate with 51 votes rather than the 60 need to overcome a possible filibuster -- has been used by Republican and Democratic administrations to secure major initiatives, from Bill Clinton's tax increases in 1993 to George W. Bush's tax cuts in 2001...

When it comes to judicial nominations, Republican senators are finding themselves defending hills they sought to storm just a few years ago. Republicans sometimes ignored home-state senators' objections to nominees and threatened to change the rules to end filibusters on nominations when they held the majority and the presidency — but today, those same Republicans argue home-state consultation is sacrosanct and are promising their own filibusters if Democrats don't respect them. Republicans say they aren't making threats, but either way, their unified stand, expressed in a letter earlier this month, appears to be working: Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy,...

Senator: Appointment Wouldn't Affect Senate Makeup By PHILIP ELLIOTT - Associated Press Writer Republican Sen. Judd Gregg has told colleagues that if he becomes commerce secretary, his replacement would affiliate with the GOP, denying Democrats' total dominance, his party leader said Sunday. That would require an agreement involving President Obama, who would appoint Gregg to his Cabinet, and New Hampshire Democratic Gov. John Lynch, who would name Gregg's successor to the Senate. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky suggested that such an arrangement was in the works. "Sen. Gregg has assured me that if this were to happen,...

Republican senators who oppose the $819 billion economic stimulus plan passed in the House Wednesday declined to say whether they personally would lead a filibuster to try to stop the legislation in the Senate. But they said a filibuster is an option and they are developing a strategy to stop the bill. The House bill passed 244 to 188. No Republicans voted for the legislation and 11 Democrats also opposed it. As this story went to press, GOP senators indicated they were working on a coordinated plan with Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and that a filibuster is a...

The Senate voted during a rare Sunday session to move forward on a package that has become known as the “Coburn omnibus” because it is designed to thwart a filibuster by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). The most recent version of the Coburn omnibus is a 1,000-plus page package that consists of more than 160 different provisions governing various land-use issues. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tried to move many of the provisions through the Senate last year but action was held up by Coburn’s use of dilatory procedural tactics. Reid’s decision to vote on a Sunday to quash Coburn’s...

Jan 3 (Reuters) - With a close Minnesota race still undecided, Democrats will hold no more than 59 seats in the new 100-member U.S. Senate that convenes on Jan. 6. That means Democrats will need the help of at least a few Republicans to hit the 60 votes required to clear procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.

Candidate Barack Obama promised "change we can believe in," but he never hinted that this change would all but circumvent Congress to impose on America the most dramatic liberal social transformation since the New Deal.  While promising to lead, he did not suggest that he would create a kind of "imperial presidency" that would horrify the Founding Fathers.  Based on their own direct experience with a sovereign, they were rightly concerned with any one man having too much power.  This is the kind of power that Obama is now reaching for, following the same kind of "stealth strategy" that helped...

I have sent the following letter via eamil and fax to my two Senators from Idaho, Seantor Crapo and Senator-elect Risch. I am also sending it to all of the other 48 US Senators. In my estimation, it is time we informed all of our representatives, from the President on down, who they really work for and what our expectations of them are. In particular, after the victory of Chambliss in Georgia (which was also a huge victory for Sarah Palin, showing the influence she has and what we can expect on a much larger scale in 20101), and...

If the Republicans in Congress can hold off a VP vote on Biden with a filibuster and deliberately miss the Janurary 20th deadline, Dick Cheney would succeed Bush and become Acting President. This can be done because the entire Democratic ticket would be in question due to Obama's Kenyan birth All Freepers should send this idea to the Republican Senators in Washington, especially the ones who are leaving on January 20th. It would be one last shot across the bow before the Dems take over. It should also be sent to Rush, Hannity, and every other conservative talk show host...

This is test #1 of whether the GOP minority will roll over in front of the Socialist juggernaut or try to stand on classic American capitalist values.

On top of everything else, we don't need a filibuster-proof supermajority, controlled by Dems, in the U.S. Senate. If that happens, there won't be anybody to filibuster on limiting abortion (including forcing pro-life doctors to perform abortions), stopping the so-called "Fair"ness Doctrine, fighting against higher taxes, etc.. In Georgia, conservative Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is in a runoff on Dec. 2. They're still counting votes in Alaska and Minnesota, and in Minnesota they keep "finding" absentee ballots.