Free Republic

If you're looking for a good laugh this week, you probably can't do better than Tuesday's White House press conference. Reporters asked spokesman Josh Earnest about the confirmation of two Obama-appointed ambassadors whose confirmation was only possible because Democrats manipulated Senate rules earlier this year to make it easier to approve executive-branch nominees. By the narrowest of margins, two people completely unqualified to represent U.S. interests abroad were confirmed to serve in relatively important countries they know nothing about. Colleen Bell, the new U.S. ambassador to Hungary, is a former soap opera producer who couldn't name a single strategic interest...

Liberal groups are agitating for another round of filibuster reform after Senate Majority Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) controversial triggering of the nuclear option last year has done little to alleviate Senate gridlock. A coalition of labor and liberal groups have pressed Reid to make additional changes to the Senate rules this year, something that senior Democratic aides say is very possible. “We strongly urge Majority Leader Reid and Chairman [Patrick] Leahy [D-Vt.] to consider reforms to floor and committee rules that will hasten the confirmation of President Obama’s talented and qualified set of nominees,” they said in a statement. The coalition,...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Tuesday that he is looking at reforming Senate rules to prevent Republicans from filibustering President Obama’s judicial nominees. “I’m at the point where we need to do something to allow government to function,” Reid said when asked if he would consider using the so-called nuclear option, a controversial procedural tactic for changing Senate rules. “I’m considering looking at the rules.” The seldom-used tactic would allow Democrats to change the Senate’s rules with a simple-majority vote. “The founding fathers never had in place in the Constitution about filibusters or extended debate,” he told reporters....

An Iowa state senator resigned Wednesday after a special investigator found it likely he violated ethics rules by taking money from political entities connected to former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and then denying he’d done so. Sen. Kent Sorenson told The Associated Press that he had already decided he would not run for re-election, and that his resignation was best for his family. He said his decision was “absolutely not” an admission of wrongdoing. … His resignation came after attorney Mark Weinhardt said in a report released earlier in the day that it was “manifestly clear” Sorenson negotiated payments in...

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...

Contact your members of Congress and urge them to oppose any "assault weapon" or magazine ban Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)--author of the federal "assault weapon" and "large" ammunition magazine ban of 1994-2004--has said for weeks that she will soon introduce an even more restrictive bill. Leaders in the U.S. Senate have stated that January 22 will be the first day on which new Senate legislation can be proposed, so that is the most likely date for the new, sweeping legislation to be introduced. On Dec. 17th, Feinstein said, "I have been working with my staff for over a year on...

Republican House leaders passed a package of sensible reforms to chamber rules last week, and now Senate Democrats have offered their own rule changes. Unfortunately, Democrats trample on the explicit language of Senate rules even when professing reformist intent. ~snip! Mr. Reid is trying to adopt these changes with 51 votes rather than the normal 67 necessary for new procedures. This is unlawful because the Senate's Rule 5 states, "The rules of the Senate shall continue from one Congress to the next Congress." The 67-vote requirement, explicit in Rule 22, continues each session, including on the first day. On the...

What we are witnessing today is a power grab to advance an ideology, pure and simple. A power grab by an arrogant, condescending group of individuals who do not wish to be restrained by the confines put in place by our Founding Fathers. Individuals who feel they are superior to the greatest collection of minds in the history of human kind.

When Democrats awoke the day after the 2008 election to overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, plus control of the White House, many imagined they would be able to accomplish nearly anything they wanted. It seemed possible that Congress would finish health care reform within a year, including a strong "public option" plan. A climate bill would sail through, along with immigration reform, the pro-union Employee Free Choice Act and an end to the ban on non-closeted gays in the military. But the reality has been very different. Health care passed, but just barely, months behind schedule and with...

It is a good rule of thumb not to speak ill of the dead. But what to do when a man is celebrated beyond the limits of decorum or common sense? Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of the Senate in American history, died Monday. It was truly a remarkable career. But what's more remarkable is how he has been lionized by the champions of liberalism. On Thursday, Byrd's colleagues took the unusual step of honoring him with a special service on the Senate floor, where he would lay in repose -- with some irony -- on the Lincoln Catafalque, the...

The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday. The Senate Parliamentarian’s Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership. The answers were provided verbally, sources said.

got this in an email....representative gooberment my butt....this is just more ammo for the We The People vs. Congress law suit.... The United States Senate regularly passes major legislation without even voting on it. That disturbing fact caught my attention when I first arrived in the Senate, and frankly, it still bothers me. The legislative process as it taught in eight grade civics class is logical, consistent, and most of all, transparent. The legislative process as it is practiced in the Senate today is nothing like that ideal. Every week, the Senate routinely passes legislation that is never voted on,...

...Why is the filibuster allowed in the Senate but not in the House of Representatives? The answer is that the filibuster did indeed once have a home in the House. That it doesn't anymore is a tribute to a 19th-century Republican hero: Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine. If he is recalled at all today, it is because of the memorable nickname his enemies fastened to him in the wake of Reed's successful abolition of the filibuster in the House: "Czar." ... The primary weapon of the minority was the so-called "silent quorum" or "silent filibuster." Under the House rules...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist reportedly has the votes to enforce the so-called "nuclear option" against judicial filibusters instigated by Democrats, despite claims to the contrary by Minority Leader Harry Reid. After a Thursday meeting with Senate Democrats, Reid boasted he was ready for the coming battle. "It was one of the most pleasant experiences of my entire life," he told reporters. "We walked out of there so united. We talked about what's going to happen after Tuesday," when the filibuster showdown is expected to come to head. But according to New York Times columnist David Brooks, Reid was blowing...

As the battle continues in Washington over President Bush's selections for federal judges, a new poll indicates 57 percent of Americans want Senate rules to be changed so a vote must be taken on every person the president nominates to become a judge. The survey by Rasmussen Reports finds only 26 percent disagree. If the Senate rules are changed, most Americans – 51 percent – say Democrats should not follow through on their threat to use other rules to effectively shut down the Senate. Just 26 percent believe Democrats should retaliate in such a manner. According to the survey, Democrats...

(Note: Majority Leader Frist delivered the following remarks on the floor of the United States Senate today.)Throughout the judicial obstruction debate, emotions have run high on both sides. This should remind all of us, once again, of the need to return civility to our nation’s capital.The American people want their elected leaders to work together to find solutions. To them -- doing what’s Republican or Democrat matters far less than doing what’s right for our country.Let me briefly discuss how we got here.Never in 214 years -- never in the history of the Senate -- had a judicial nominee with...

Bob Dole says that amending the Senate's rules would be unnecessary if only Senate Democrats would forswear use of the filibuster. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Pete Du Pont recounts that many Democratic Senators have had a change of heart when it comes to the propriety of filibusters: "Other Democratic senators have had similar changes in belief: Joe Biden and Robert Byrd, Tom Harkin, Ted Kennedy, Joe Lieberman, Pat Leahy, Chuck Schumer and their erstwhile colleagues Lloyd Bentsen, and Tom Daschle have all vigorously opposed the use of the filibuster against judicial nominations. Mr. Schumer was for voting judicial...

Illustrating the abhorrent yet entirely predictable behavior of those on the left, Rush Limbaugh explains, “A tiger is a tiger. A snake is a snake. And a liberal is a liberal.” To which he should add that a “moderate” is a liberal too. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, outspoken Republican “moderate” and Judiciary Committee chairman, makes this point painfully obvious once again. Specter recently voiced his concern over the possibility that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-TN) may significantly alter Senate rules, invoking the so-called “nuclear option,” to counter Democrat obstruction of President Bush’s judicial nominees. Specter expressed fears that this...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he has the 51 votes needed to change Senate rules and make it easier for Republicans to overcome Democratic filibusters against President Bush's judicial nominees, but he hopes such a change won't be necessary. "We need to restore the over 200-year tradition and precedent of allowing every nominee of the president who has majority support an up-or-down vote on the floor of the United States Senate," Mr. Frist told The Washington Times on Thursday. "It's consistent with the Constitution, where we are as a body to give advice and consent, and...

It’s been a while since I’ve inflicted a heavy dose of constitutional law on y’all. Sorry, but it’s necessary, since President Bush will likely make several Supreme Court nominations next term. Therefore, the rules of the Senate are at issue. I can see you nodding off already. Pinch yourself, then let’s have at it. The Constitution says, in Article II, Section 2, clause 2, that the President can establish treaties with the “advice and consent” of the Senate by a two-thirds vote. But for Senate approval of presidential appointments, no supra-majority is required. That means majority vote only. In this...

<p>THE anti-fur folk at PETA may have a new target: Sen. Hillary Clinton.</p> <p>On Dec. 24, the Times' Boldfaced Names column reported that Manhattan furrier Peter Duffy "told us he had just finished a mink coat for Hillary Rodham Clinton."</p>