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Senator Chris Coons (D., Del.) said on CNN Tuesday that he regrets the rule change Senate Democrats made to the nomination process.“The filibuster no longer acts as an emergency brake on the nomination,” Coons said.The senator was questioned on the nomination process and the rule changes that senate Democrats had made in order to keep Republicans from derailing their selected nominees.Coons admitted that Democrats had watered down the nomination process after Kate Bolduan mentioned that Republican’s could now take advantage of the simpler consent process.“I do regret that. Frankly I think many of us will regret that in this congress because it would...

We should probably think of this as an exercise in managing our expectations heading into next year’s congressional battles. Two days after the election I posed a question to the Republican Party leadership: we’ve given you control of the entire federal government. Now what will you do with it? The answer will largely depend on what happens in the Senate. Trump can, if he wishes, undo many of Obama’s executive actions with the stroke of a pen and Republicans will largely control what bills come up for a vote in both the House and Senate. But activity in the...

Senate Republicans are wary of making a historic move to nix the filibuster despite growing pressure from conservatives. Roughly two weeks after Donald Trump's White House win, GOP lawmakers are already facing calls to overhaul Senate rules and help push through the real estate mogul's agenda. The calls to go "nuclear" are only likely to intensify next year when Democrats begin to carry out their pledge to fight Trump's agenda on areas where they disagree. ADVERTISEMENT But Senate Republicans are openly skeptical about making a rules change they believe could come back to bite them, when they are inevitably back...

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned Sunday that Democrats would filibuster Donald Trump's Supreme Court candidates if they are not "mainstream." "If he doesn't nominate a mainstream candidate, we're going to go at him with everything we've got ... Because this is so, so important," Schumer said on NBC's "Meet the Press." While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had suggested doing away with the filibuster, Schumer said Republicans "don't come with clean hands, having delayed Merrick Garland for a whole year." President Obama nominated Garland to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia, but...

Come January, Republicans will control all three branches of government, but with only 52 Republicans in the Senate. That will not give them the 60 needed to break a Democrat filibuster. Appearing on various Sunday talk shows, Schumer was asked if Senate Democrats will filibuster Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, whoever it may be. “I would hope first and foremost that President Trump nominates a mainstream nominee capable of getting bipartisan support,” Schumer told Fox News Sunday.“If he does, then we’ll give it just a very, very thorough vetting, but we won’t ipso facto say no. If it’s out of the...

Did the democrats do away with the 60 vote rule to end debate? Will this apply to The next supreme court nominee or will the dems be able to filibuster our nominee? Thanks for any clarification!

They’re prepping the congressional battlefield for the two toughest fights the Dems will have in 2017: the repeal of Obamacare and the confirmation of Trump’s nomination of a conservative to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Those are the two most important campaign promises Trump made that have to be accomplished in the coming year if they’re going to be accomplished at all. The Dems will mount their first round filibusters when the confirmation process begins. They will filibuster some of the cabinet and subcabinet folks as a warm-up so that they and their media allies can...

As Democrats strategize on how to stop conservative legislation from making its way to Donald Trump’s desk in the White House, Republicans have a little-known rule in their toolbox that would allow them to pass legislation, including a repeal of Obamacare, with a simple majority. Democrats were able to keep 48 seats in the Senate after Tuesday’s election, giving the party the power to filibuster legislation and effectively prevent conservative policies from being enacted. But Republicans can turn to a seldom-used Senate rule that would allow them to pass legislation by a simple majority vote—legislation that has a greater chance...

Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprising victory that Republicans should get rid of the Senate filibuster. Republicans maintained control of the House and Senate on Election Day, giving them control of the Legislative and Executive branches. “I firmly believe that he wants to work — he wants to get things done,” Walker told radio host Charlie Sykes on WTMJ, describing a phone call this week with Trump’s running mate Mike Pence. “He wants to be able to say we won and that best way to do that is to allow Paul (Ryan) to help...

This morning on Northern Alabama's WVNN-AM, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-5/REP) mentioned that the key to Donald Trump's agenda could come down to whether the Senate votes to waive their filibuster rule. That requires 60 votes to end debate on any measure, and Democrats are already scheming to exercise the same kind of obstruction they decried of Republicans in years' past. Requiring a simple majority to pass Senate bills would go a long way toward getting Trump's plans pushed through quickly... especially given the razor-thin edge that Republicans will have. Right now, the power balance in the Senate is 51-47 with...

The filibuster is under attack again, this time by Senate Democrats who are hoping to win back that chamber as well as the White House in November. Carl Hulse, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, reported Wednesday that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wants Democrats to “move to curtail the filibuster” if they win both the White House and the Senate “only to run up against persistent use of the tactic by Republicans.” Hulse wrote:

Opportunism, not concern. The Democrats’ ghoulish lust for gun control has hit a fever pitch in the wake of the Orlando terror attack. Instead of talking about the shooters motive and the FBI’s abject failure, they choose to focus all of their attention - and extremely limited firearm knowledge - on the weapons he used. Scratch that. They usually focus their attention on guns he didn’t use, in particular the AR-15.

Thomas Jefferson famously adapted key passages of John Locke’s Second Treatise in his draft Declaration of Independence. An 18th century gentleman could hardly regard himself as learned without the ability to quote a few Lockean passages from memory. Yet, what of the average colonial? Books were expensive imports. How were the yeomanry educated well enough in Lockean concepts to readily understand and accept this radical document, the Declaration of Independence? Through newspapers. Like modern Americans, our colonial forebears were also political junkies. Freewheeling editorials, letters to the editor that criticized parliamentary and colonial governments were standing features of public life....

After President Barack Obama scolded Republicans for vowing to block whomever he nominates to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, some Republicans called him out for being a hypocrite because he tried to filibuster Justice Samuel Alito's nomination in 2006. Now the White House is saying that the president "regrets" that decision, but still maintains that the Republican opposition is somehow different and unprecedented. Via The Hill: “That is an approach the president regrets,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.Obama and the Democratic senators who joined him in filibustering...

The top White House spokesman said Wednesday that President Obama "regrets" his 2006 decision to filibuster the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court -- after being accused of hypocrisy for blasting "obstructionist" Republicans now vowing to block his next high court nominee. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was pressed on Obama's 2006 vote, as a U.S. senator, at the daily briefing. "Looking back on it, the president believes that he should have just followed his own advice and made a strong public case on the merits about his opposition to the nomination that President Bush had put...

President Obama "regrets" filibustering the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in 2006, his top spokesman said Wednesday, though he maintains that the Republican opposition to his effort to replace Justice Antonin Scalia is unprecedented. "That is an approach the president regrets," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. Obama and the Democratic senators who joined him in filibustering Alito "should have been in the position where they were making a public case" against the merits of his nomination to the high court instead, Earnest said. "They shouldn't have looked for a way to just throw sand in the...

The White House said Wednesday that President Obama "regrets" his filibuster against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito in 2006, but insisted the situation was different than Republicans' current vow to block any nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. "These are two different things," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. "The president's objections to then-President Bush's nominee were based in substance." In 2006, then-Sen. Obama and 23 other Democrats -- including Hillary Clinton -- tried to filibuster Justice Alito's nomination. He was confirmed for the high court anyway.

President Barack Obama respond this afternoon to promises by Senate Republicans to not allow a vote o his nominee to replace recently-deceased pro-life Justice Antonin Scalia. Obama doesn't care about the fact that he filibustered Justice Samuel Alito's nomination in an attempt to prevent the Senate from voting to confirm him, he demanded that Republicans allow a vote on his nominee. After Scalia's death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will not take up a vote on a replacement for deceased pro-life Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia until after the presidential election. Such a promise prevents pro-abortion President...

Obama and his media allies are now making all the expected noises about the Senate's obligation to confirm nominees if they're qualified without partisan interference. That is the exact opposite of what he did to Bush's Supreme Court nominees. Let's start with Justice Roberts. Obama admitted that Roberts was eminently qualified. He praised him highly. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind Judge Roberts is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land. Moreover, he seems to have the comportment and the temperament that makes for a good judge. He is humble, he is personally decent, and...

"When you're in a fight, people just don't like the fight, so they're going to respond negatively," DeLay said on CNN. "It's who wins and comes out of the fight that has long-lasting effects. And I got to tell you right now, out here in the real world, outside of New York and Washington, D.C., these people think Ted Cruz is a hero. They think that those Republicans in the House are heroes. And they think that Obama is destroying this country." Cruz helped kick off the congressional chaos by speaking on the Senate floor for 21 hours in a...