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Ever since Harry Reid's Democratic majority blew up decades of precedent to significantly weaken the filibuster in order to grease the skids for President Obama's left-wing judicial and executive appointments, some conservatives have wondered if the GOP would answer in kind upon regaining the majority. On Wednesday's edition of the Hugh Hewitt Show, John Thune -- the third ranking member of Senate Republican leadership -- told Hugh and me that an option is under consideration that would further erode the minority's filibuster tool: Benson talks w/ Sen. Thune on action to change filibuster rules on appropriations bills Thune says Senate Republican leadership...

For those keeping score, over the last few months, Senate Democrats have used the filibuster -- which they railed against and eroded while in the majority -- to block a bill to pay our troops, to prevent any vote on President Obama's reckless Iran deal, to hold up funding for the VA, and to obstruct legislation helping victims of human trafficking because it didn't spend taxpayer dollars on abortions. (One can only hope the NRSC is keeping track of these votes for future attack ads).  Harry's crew is angling to add another notch in their obstructionist belt, with Reid vowing to filibuster a post-Paris bill designed to beef up...

Senate Democrats launched a third consecutive filibuster of the bipartisan defense appropriations bill yesterday, once again blocking consideration of legislation that would fund the United States military and pay members of our armed forces. Yes, it's okay to be thoroughly perplexed by this development. Remember, the ostensible reason that Democrats have engaged in this obstruction over recent months -- which also entailed filibustering the Veterans Affairs appropriations bill -- was to exploit the troops and veterans as leverage to force Republicans to agree to higher federal spending on unrelated matters. It was a cynical play, but thanks in part to President Obama's hyper-partisan veto, it...

DENVER -- in the face to conservatives." Likely speaker of the House Paul Ryan has said the process that created it "stinks." But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the first Republican to pledge outright that he'll try to scutter the compromise debt limit bill designed to kick any tough new vote into 2017. "I will filibuster the new debt ceiling bill," Paul said at an event on the University of Colorado's Denver campus. "It is horrible, it's hard for me not to use profanity describing it." Paul also called the bill a "steaming pile of legislation," and urged fellow Republicans...

We've been critical of Republicans' chronic inability to thrust political predicaments upon Senate Democrats and President Obama by forcefully spotlighting risky, unpopular filibusters, and forcing politically painful vetoes. Progress on these fronts has been maddeningly rare, though not nonexistent. With additional Democratic obstruction efforts afoot, the GOP now appears poised to require presidential vetoes on measures that would gut much of Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood, via a budget maneuver known as reconciliation.  But perhaps their best opportunity to draw political blood, or even win, is on a showdown involving the National Defense Authorization Act, which large bipartisan majorities have now sent to Obama's desk, directly challenging a veto threat: Speaker...

Kill the filibuster. Kill it now.Traditions are nice and institutional prerogatives can be important, but right now on Capitol Hill, the tails are wagging the dog. The filibuster is already dead – Harry Reid killed it when he chose to disregard it to pack the District of Columbia Circuit – and pretending it isn’t is not only ridiculous but it is ripping the GOP apart. It’s like a legislative Weekend at Bernie’s starring pouty Mitch McConnell and fussy little Lamar Alexander. The filibuster, a mere Senate tradition and not a constitutional mandate, is not just an obstacle to enacting our...

Kill the filibuster. Kill it now. Traditions are nice and institutional prerogatives can be important, but right now on Capitol Hill, the tails are wagging the dog. The filibuster is already dead – Harry Reid killed it when he chose to disregard it to pack the District of Columbia Circuit – and pretending it isn’t is not only ridiculous but it is ripping the GOP apart. It’s like a legislative Weekend at Bernie’s starring pouty Mitch McConnell and fussy little Lamar Alexander. The filibuster, a mere Senate tradition and not a constitutional mandate, is not just an obstacle to enacting...

A senior Senate Republican leadership source reached out to discuss the case I laid out this morning (linked an excerpted by Allahpundit here) concerning a possible path to breaking Democrats’ Iran deal filibuster. He said Majority Leader McConnell will schedule another cloture vote early next week, likely on Tuesday. If and when that fails (assuming none of the 42 filibustering Democrats relent), GOP leadership is considering a number of options, including forcing votes on one or more highly-charged amendments related to the Iran deal. This maneuver would respond to Democrats’ politicized posturing in kind, contriving scenarios in which filibuster-sustaining...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats voted to uphold the hard-fought nuclear accord with Iran on Thursday, overcoming ferocious GOP opposition and delivering President Barack Obama a legacy-making victory on his top foreign policy priority. A disapproval resolution for the agreement fell two votes short of the 60 needed to move forward as most Democratic and independent senators banded together against it. Although House Republicans continued to pursue eleventh-hour strategies to derail the international accord and Senate Republicans promised a re-vote, Thursday's outcome all but guaranteed that the disapproval legislation would not reach Obama's desk. As a result the nuclear deal...

President Obama has earned enough Democratic votes in the Senate to filibuster a Senate effort to block the Iran nuclear deal, if necessary. On Monday, Sens Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) , Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) , and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced their support for the deal, tallying enough votes to successfully filibuster the deal. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced his opposition to the deal in a surprise defection from Obama, citing Iran’s support of terrorism and the death of American soldiers. “This regime has shown no signs that its deplorable behavior will change, and this deal does nothing to...

Those putting party over country try to conceal their votes from the public. Democratic senators supporting President Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran are cowards. They know that a majority of Americans oppose the deal. Thus, they are running for cover to avoid going on the record and voting against a resolution disapproving the deal. A filibuster to block a vote on the merits altogether is the Democratic Senate caucus’s preferred way out. The White House is reportedly pushing the filibuster strategy even though Obama is virtually certain to have enough votes to sustain a veto of a resolution of...

Washington, D.C.— Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following statements on reports that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid may filibuster a Senate vote on the Iran Nuclear Deal: “First, the president did an end-run around the Constitution by refusing to submit the Iran deal as a treaty requiring a two-thirds vote of the Senate for approval. Now Harry Reid wants to deny the American people a voice entirely by blocking an up-or-down vote on this terrible deal. If Harry Reid has his way, Congress won’t even get the little oversight we were provided in Corker-Cardin. He is obstructing because...

The consolation prize in the great Senate GOP sellout on the Iran deal was supposed to be the opportunity it created to embarrass Obama. The fear was that if Republicans insisted on two-thirds approval of the deal for ratification, as the Constitution’s Treaty Clause requires, King Barack would simply reassure the public that this wasn’t technically a treaty and proceed to implement the agreement under his own executive authority. Heads he wins, tails you lose. That’s life in post-republic America. (And if you like that model, wait until President Trump is sworn in.) So Bob Corker and McConnell decided...

Democrats will try to mount a filibuster to block the Iran nuclear deal from even having to reach President Obama’s desk for a veto, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid signaled Sunday in a statement. He and his party colleagues already have enough committed supporters that they would be able to sustain an Obama veto and allow the Iran deal to proceed, but a filibuster would be an even bigger coup, halting the issue earlier in the process and heading off a protracted — and potentially politically costly — veto fight. “I recently informed Senator McConnell that after a period of...

President Barack Obama’s almost certain to get the Iran nuclear deal — but whether he gets there by filibuster or sustained veto could make all the difference. A Democratic filibuster in the Senate would be a clear victory for the president, allowing Obama to say that for all the political noise there wasn’t enough actual opposition to the nuclear agreement with the Islamic republic to even get to a final vote.

Scott Walker on Saturday night said that if it were necessary to repeal President Obama's healthcare law, he would urge Republican senators to use the so-called nuclear option to end the filibuster. After formal remarks at the Western Conservative Summit, Walker sat down with talk radio host and author Hugh Hewitt for an onstage interview. "I heard you say Obamacare will be repealed and replaced," Hewitt said. "There are a lot of Republican senators who love the filibuster. Rick Santorum told me you don't need to break the filibuster to repeal Obamacare. But if it's necessary to do so, will...

I am having an argument with a Lib, his stance is that the Repubs have filibustered all veterans bills in the senate, when I look at the congressional record, it seems the bill never got out of committee. However, there are a mountain of websites claiming the repubs are filibustering vets, for example: Some of the bills that they filibustered - bills that would have helped American people in this difficult economy: H.R. 12 - Paycheck Fairness Act H.R. 448 -- Elder Abuse Victims Act H.R. 466 - Wounded Veteran Job Security Act H.R. 515 - Radioactive Import Deterrence Act...

Sen. Rand Paul took to the Senate floor to launch a “filibuster” of a bill to reauthorize a major government surveillance program. One problem: It’s not actually a filibuster. With key parts of the PATRIOT Act set to expire at the end of the month — and the Senate set to skip town at the end of the week — Paul took to the floor at about 1:15 p.m. to expound on his staunch opposition to government surveillance. The 2016 Republican candidate has made government surveillance a key tenet of his quest for the White House and threatened last week...

Well, he’ll try to filibuster it, but it might be harder than it seems. Sen. Rand Paul told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on New Day that Senate rules complicate filibusters more than people know, but he intends to do what he can to block consideration of any extension of the Patriot Act, or even the reform package called the Freedom Act that passed the House on a wide bipartisan basis. That may leave his fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell in a very tight spot:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO ALISYN CAMEROTA: Quickly I want to ask you about the vote to...

Senate Democrats on Tuesday delivered a stinging blow to President Obama’s trade agenda by voting to prevent the chamber from picking up fast-track legislation. A motion to cut off a filibuster and proceed to the trade bill fell short of a 60-vote hurdle in the 52-45 vote. Sen. Tom Carper (Del.) was the only Democrat to back it. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) switched his vote from yes to no to reserve his ability to return to the measure at a later date. Fast-track is a top legislative priority for the White House, but it has run into significant...