Free Republic

Well, Harry Reid is resorting to desperate measures in order to try and regain some power in the Senate. Reports say that he is getting ready to use the so-called “nuclear option” to change the senate rules so that 60 votes are no longer needed to block a filibuster. And it looks like President Obama will support Reid’s efforts if the Republicans try to block upcoming nominations. “If Senator Reid decides to do something on nominations, the president has said he’ll be there to support him,” a Democratic aide told the Post. "This would take away the right to...

Fox is reporting Mitch Mcconnell is working on a deal with Harry Reid on the filibuster.... If this is true I may give up the R next to my name. It means nothing anymore...

Reid to Senate Republicans: Filibuster deal in 36 hours or face nuclear option By Alexander Bolton - 01/22/13 03:29 PM ET Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is giving Republican colleagues 36 hours to agree to a deal on filibuster reform or he will move forward with the nuclear option. “I hope in the next 24, 36 hours we can get something we agree on. If not, we’re going to move forward on what I think needs to be done,” Reid told reporters. Reid’s trump card in negotiations with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is the threat he will...

Gun grabbers are not going to be able to get 60 votes to break a Senate filibuster of gun control. But, with the help of fake "pro-gun" Senate Democrats, they may be able to get 50. So the question of whether Senate Democrats will need 50 votes or 60 votes will determine whether gun control -– and much of Obama's agenda -– will be slammed through and passed into law. This brings us to the "nuclear option." This is a trick which anti-gun Democrats intend to use the first day of the Senate session in order to obliterate the Senate...

Congress: Changing the filibuster rule come January has suddenly become a top priority for Senate Democrats who want to help their re-elected president complete his fundamental transformation of America. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday blasted Democratic-led efforts to reform the filibuster, something the Democrats once vehemently opposed but which Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised to bring up in the next Congress, fearing the Republicans will dig in to block President Obama's agenda. What Reid and the Democrats will come up with is unknown at this point. Among the options is to ban filibusters that block the start of...

Democrat’s power grab takes away minority Republicans’ rightsForget about bipartisanship; Harry Reid has decided there’s no option that goes too far if it means diluting the influence of Republicans. The Senate majority leader plans to break with long-standing tradition in January by rewriting the chamber’s rules to silence the Republican minority. It’s a shortsighted maneuver, because it means Democrats will have no input in the legislative process when they find themselves out of power in the future. The hostilities spilled into the open on Monday and Tuesday with a rare, heated series of floor debates between Mr. Reid and Minority...

Congress: Changing the filibuster rule come January has suddenly become a top priority for Senate Democrats who want to help their re-elected president complete his fundamental transformation of America. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday blasted Democratic-led efforts to reform the filibuster, something the Democrats once vehemently opposed but which Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised to bring up in the next Congress, fearing the Republicans will dig in to block President Obama's agenda. What Reid and the Democrats will come up with is unknown at this point. Among the options is to ban filibusters that block the start of...

Senate Republicans vow they will retaliate for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to unilaterally change the Senate’s rules Thursday without prior warning or negotiation. Republican aides say their bosses will now be even more reluctant to allow the Senate to conduct routine business by unanimous consent, forcing Reid to gather 60 votes for even the most mundane matters. “Reid fired a major salvo and it’s hard to imagine a return shot won’t be fired. Maybe over the weekend they’ll come up with something and try to make it less worse than it already is,” said a Senate...

On Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered the so-called nuclear option — unilaterally changing Senate rules by a simple majority vote to stop the minority from forcing votes on uncomfortable amendments. It’s the same tactic the majority would use to undercut the minority’s ability to filibuster. And that’s why it’s called “nuclear” — it dramatically alters the balance of power between the majority and minority. It is not a step to be taken lightly. What great matter drove Reid to push the nuclear button? Apparently Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) was threatening to force a vote on...

In a shock development Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered a rarely-used procedural option informally called the “nuclear option” to change the Senate rules. The surprise move stunned Republicans, who did not expect Reid to bring heavy artillery to what had appeared to have been a hum-drum legislative knife fight. Reid appealed a ruling from the chair that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) does not need consent to force a vote on a motion to suspend the rules to consider an amendment after cloture has already been approved. The maneuver is highly arcane but momentous. If...

Frustrated by regular filibusters and other procedural blockades, Senate Democrats are urging their leadership to negotiate with Republicans to change the rules that govern how the Senate does business. The Democrats would leave intact the ability of the minority party to filibuster legislation and nominations, meaning that in most cases it would still take 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate. But they want to require senators to be on the floor if they intend to try to debate a bill to death and would make other changes to streamline the Senate’s operations, including ending the practice of...

The United States studied a plan for a nuclear strike on North Korea in 1969 but advisers to then-president Richard Nixon concluded it was best to remain calm, declassified documents showed Wednesday. The documents, obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, foreshadow present-day US frustration on how to handle Pyongyang following its nuclear tests and the sinking of a South Korean ship. In 1969, North Korea shot down a US spy aircraft over the Sea of Japan (East Sea), killing the 31 personnel on board. Despite US outrage, the new Nixon administration chose not to retaliate other...

Oops! That didn't go according to plan.

As you all know, I’m on semi-vacation with my family. It’s 10:00pm Pacific time and after putting everyone to bed, I decided to check in online and turn on the TV. I flipped through C-SPAN thinking I’d be able to catch up on re-runs of the day’s business…only to find the Senate still live and in session at 1:00am Eastern voting on Demcare amendments. Yes, the Vampire Congress is back in business again — shirking the glare of daylight as it tables Republican motion after motion. A final vote on the wreckonciliation bill is expected at around 3:00-6:00am Eastern this...

THIS IS THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION WE HAVE. Please share this with any and everyone you know that wants to help stop this legislation. Code Red tally is: (http://www.nrcc.org/CodeRed/) 201 No 188 Yes 42 Undecided There are names with phone numbers - they must be called first . You can use the link below to get other names. We will also sent another copy of the updated Blue Dogs and Moderates hit list from earlier this week. We have also added to the list of the 9 pro-life Democrats considering voting YES at the end of this list. Some of...

From America with love.

Americans don't take being pushed around against their will well AT ALL. It's obvious Obamacrypt will spark trouble. Obama's continued fascist takeover of America, progressing from car companies to now your very healthcare, should put dread fear in all citizens. "there's increasing evidence that supporters of Obamacare are disproportionately located in heavily Democratic districts, and that independents — a crucial voting block in competitive districts — may have swung even further against Obamacare than anyone else has."

Repeatedly during his tenure as a U.S. Senator and as a Presidential candidate in 2007-08, Barack Obama asserted that the so-called 'nuclear option' or 'reconciliation' provision that allows bills to pass with 51 votes rather than the normal required 60 votes is a terrible idea and would not be prudent for approving healthcare legislation. Not only is Obama on the printed record stating his opposition to such bullying tactics but he is on video at least 3 times repeating his belief that 'one cannot adequately govern with only a 51-vote majority on something as massive as a healthcare overhaul.' Here...

The hardest thing in psychiatry is to keep an open mind while sitting with a patient, who might be trying to provoke and manipulate the doctor, day after day, month after month. We want to understand troubled people, but people are complex. Psychiatric diagnoses are just reasonable guesses. Most human beings are much too mixed, much too complicated, and much too interesting to reduce to just a checklist. Obama is the exception. Lots of people talk like narcissists -- when teenagers get grandiose, or when they start to lie to and manipulate their parents, it might be just a phase...

VIDEO: Obviously, "reconciliation" was not intended to be used as a tool to ram through the biggest bill in history, one that would put the government in control of over 16% of the economy. Comparing past use of reconciliation with ramming through the 2,400 page ObamaCare bill, would be the equivalent of saying murders and traffic tickets are similar because they're both crimes.

President Obama declared for the first time yesterday that he was prepared to steamroller his troubled health reform legislation through Congress with only Democratic support; a move Republicans denounced as the “nuclear option”. Signalling that his patience had snapped after a year-long fight, Mr Obama laid the ground for Democrats in Congress to muscle the Bill through using a high-risk legislative manoeuvre known as reconciliation, which overrides a Republican filibuster. Although he did not use the word “reconciliation”, Mr Obama made it clear that that was the route he intended to take. Democrats will, as a result, be able to...

Republicans are preparing to raise points of order and other roadblocks to the healthcare bill, a member of the Senate GOP leadership said Tuesday evening. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the fourth-ranking Senate Republican who serves as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, said the GOP is prepared for a number of scenarios in which they would seek to slow down or halt passage of healthcare legislation once it comes back before the Senate. "I still think it creates a lot of problems when it comes back to the Senate because there will be lots of points of order that will...

An Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today flatly calls President Obama's plan to jam ObamaCare through the U.S. Senate using the 'Nuclear Option' "Reconciliation Process" an "Abuse of Power." The article lays out very clearly how this will be the first time the process created in 1974 has ever been used to pass sweeping legislation like Obama's Health Care Plan. Though the White House is trying to make people think it is no big deal - that it has been used before like this - the Democrats' own Sen. Robert Byrd has said it would be wrong to...

POLITICO Breaking News to me show details 8:20 AM (8 minutes ago) POLITICO Breaking News: ----------------------------------------------------- Sen. Tom Harkin tells POLITICO that Senate Democratic leaders have decided to go the reconciliation route for health care reform. The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate.

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will suggest that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial "reconciliation" rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill, as opposed to the 60 votes to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote on a bill. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed. In his remarks, scheduled...

Barack Obama will announce tomorrow that democrats will use the nuclear option to takeover the health care industry. White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will suggest that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial “reconciliation” rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the “fix” to the Senate bill, as opposed to the 60 votes to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote on a bill. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill...

Democrats are considering pushing the health care bill through the Senate using a parliamentary maneuver that will test the boundaries of constitutional lawmaking. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday that the leadership was mulling first passing a “fix” to the Senate health care bill, then passing the Senate bill it is supposedly fixing. The fix, in Capitol Hill-speak, is being called the “reconciliation bill.” “We could pass the reconciliation first, have the reconciliation passed by the Senate and then pass the Senate bill,” Hoyer said. This would reverse the usual order of passing a bill, then passing...

It’s a testament to how arcane a procedure reconciliation is that we haven’t heard this before. Remember, if Obama and Reid go nuclear in the Senate, that’s not the end of the story: The GOP can still try to block the progress of the bill, either by challenging the individual provisions on parliamentary grounds — in theory, only parts that are related to the budget can be passed via reconciliation — or by proposing an endless numbers of amendments to stop the process in its tracks. Keith Hennessey wrote about the latter strategy this morning:

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will suggest that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial "reconciliation" rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill, as opposed to the 60 votes to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote on a bill. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/03/obama-democrats-will-use-reconciliation-to-pass-senate-health-care-bill.html

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will say that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial reconciliation rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed. In his remarks, scheduled to be at the White House, the president will paint a picture of what he will say will...

RECONCILIATION, NUCLEAR OPTION IS USED LESS? "Reconciliation" seems to be the word used by most media outlets and politicians (including The GOP and FOX News) in reference to the Democrats forcing their Obamacare down our throats! "Nuclear Option" is the word that was used when the Republicans were in control. Yes, some Freepers and some Conservatives are using "Nuclear Option" but not enough. If any of you Freepers know how to right this wrong and contact the media and the GOP, PLEASE DO! It's time to use "NUCLEAR OPTION" all the time!

RECONCILIATION OR NUCLEAR OPTION? In the wake of yesterday's summit on health care reform one must ask, what were the Democrats up to and did they accomplish what they set out to do? Let's peel away some onion layers: The Democrats profess to have arranged the conference so that leading members of the House and Senate could reason together that bipartisanship might bloom and a compromise on health care reform might be achieved as the participants grasp hands and sing kumbaya as they dance around the anointed one. Nobody on Free Republic believes that anything remotely so noble could possibly...

An answer to Sen. Harry Reid Today the Ultra-Partisan Barry Hussein Soetoro meets with Republicans to: a) show them up in front of America like he did the Supreme Court b) force them to accept that there will be his health care reform or there will be political blood c) get something about health care televised on CSPAN d) put the focus and blame on Republicans where Democrats all know it belongs or e) all of the above A funny little thing happened just days before the great Soetoro vs. Republicans health care debate. It was leaked to the Soetoro...

Ths isan amazing collage of Democrats arguing the death of Democracy if reconcilliation is ever to be used. It is very eye-opening. A must watch.

LOL!! Hoist by their own petard! "This nuclear option is an example of the arrogance of power...": Anti-reconcilation quotes video (not who you might think!). Loved Chucky Schumer's the best!!

Sen. Scott Brown yesterday warned the Obama administration against using the “nuclear option” of ramming through Congress a revised $1 trillion health-care bill outlined yesterday by the White House. The administration unveiled what’s already being called “Obamacare II” - a mix of already approved House and Senate health-care legislation aimed at expanding coverage for 31 million Americans. Obama’s plan also includes caps on excessive insurance-premium increases, similar to measures Gov. Deval Patrick proposed two weeks ago in Massachusetts. A spokesman for Brown, whose dramatic Senate victory last month halted Capitol Hill momentum for health-care reform, said Democrats better not try...

President Obama will put forward comprehensive health care legislation intended to bridge differences between Senate and House Democrats ahead of a summit meeting with Republicans next week, senior administration officials and Congressional aides said Thursday. Democratic officials said the president’s proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority. Congressional Democrats, however, have not yet seen the proposal or signed on. The House...

Here is audio of Democrat Rep. James Clyburn telling liberal talk show host Bill Press that the "way forward" on Health Care Reform is to use the "Reconciliation Process" to pass a bill "as an Easter Basket." It also has audio of multiple other Democrats saying the same thing, that the use of the "Reconciliation Process" to pass a bill of some kind is a definite option. The "Reconciliation Process" has also been called the "Nuclear Option," and Democrats howled at even the suggestion of Republicans using that process to get Judicial Nominees approved during the Bush Administration. It was...

A well-informed source tells The Mouth Nancy Pelosi is set to announce the House will go the reconciliation route on health care reform. Of course, that means using a budgetary procedure that requires a simple majority to pass. It’s still unclear to us precisely what that means would be passed, but possibilities would be creating a national health care exchange and expanding Medicare or Medicaid coverage. Democrats are caucusing now, so stay tuned. Update: A second source confirms that Pelosi is presenting a reconciliation plan to the caucus, and making sure they go with something that can actually pass. Separately,...

A top Senate Democrat for the first time Tuesday acknowledged that the party is prepared to deal with health care reform by using a controversial legislative tactic known as the "nuclear option" if Republican Scott Brown wins the Massachusetts Senate election. Calling the state's special election "an uphill battle to put it mildly," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said "there are options to still pursue health care" should Democrat Martha Coakley lose to Brown. Congressional Democrats have been discussing several options, since a Brown win would break the party's 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority at a critical time for health care...

Jake Tapper and Jonathan Karl report: Congressional Democrats and White House officials negotiating health care reform are paying close attention to the Massachusetts Senate race, where Republican candidate Scott Brown has said he will be the 41st vote to block the final vote on the final bill. Normal Senate rules require 60 votes to proceed to a vote on final passage; with the seat-warming Sen. Paul Kirk, D-Mass., replaced by Brown, Democrats would no longer have those 60 votes. Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate flailing in her match with Brown to fill the seat of the late...

January 16, 2010 Dems Weigh Other Options for Passing Health Care if GOP Wins Kennedy's Seat Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told Bloomberg this week that Democrats are still considering reconciliation, a tactic that forbids filibusters and allow bills to pass with just 51 votes, or a simple majority. Democrats on Capitol Hill are dusting off the so-called "nuclear option," the latest sign that their health care push could be derailed by a Republican win in Tuesday's surprisingly competitive special election for Massachusetts senator. The procedural move known as reconciliation, called the "nuclear option" because...

Here is audio of Barack Obama as a candidate in 2007 where he said flatly "we are not going to pass universal health care with a fifty plus one strategy." Obama said "you can't govern" if you go about things in that way. But now, of course, the Democrats are contemplating the use of just such a "Nuclear Option" to ram ObamaCare through. . . . (AUDIO)

Nuclear Option on Health Care Effort Heads to Budget Committee House Democrats pulled the trigger last week on the nuclear option for H.R. 3200, the government takeover of health care, setting into motion the process that would allow passage of the bill with 51 votes in the Senate.   The next step in the process is certification by the Budget Committee that should take place early this week.  HUMAN EVENTS broke the story last week and will report the scheduled vote in the Budget Committee as soon as information becomes available.  A list of members of the committee and their...

The details of President Obama's push for comprehensive health care reform get more baffling every day. The debate recently became even more complicated with the introduction of another term: "Reconciliation." Millions of Americans already recognize that politicians are trying to confuse the debate as a way to sneak through the most comprehensive change to our health care laws in our lifetime. That's why everyone needs to understand the "inside the beltway" procedures that liberals in Congress could use to railroad through a partisan and unpopular health care bill. What is Reconciliation? Reconciliation is a creation of the 1974 Budget Act...

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) held a hearing this morning to certify that H.R. 3200 -- the main House Obamacare bill which was the subject of all the town hall rage in August -- has met all requirements to pass as a “budget reconciliation” measure. Under reconciliation, the bill can be passed by a simple majority vote in the Senate -- just 51 votes -- and will be given preferential treatment on the House floor as well. The Dems have apparently invoked the “nuclear option” to shut out Republicans and ensure the bill is passed before...

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is weighing a plan to bring the final health care bill to the floor without a public option -- making it much easier to get the 60 votes needed to prevent a Republican filibuster -- and then adding the provision later as an amendment. The public option amendment would be there waiting, but the 60-vote test would technically be on a bill without the government plan. Then moderate Democrats could drop out for the vote on the public option, which requires just 51 votes for passage. Reid has not revealed whether he will use this...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened on Tuesday to use a procedural maneuver to steamroll opponents of health care reform, even as a Senate panel began delicate negotiations over a package that could have the best chance at passing.

It now appears that Dr. Strangelove might be advising the Democrats on passing health care reform legislation without a single Republican vote or without a Filibuster. The "Strangelove" solution is to go nuclear by using a parliamentary procedure that is called Reconciliation.

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...