I suspect this means Frist didn't have the votes - which means he lost 5+ votes from Republicans.
*Sigh* Okay, folks, all together now:
CHAFEE, SNOWE, COLLINS, McCAIN, SPECTER.
-Dan
Posted on 01/04/2005 2:06:11 PM PST by hinterlander
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) said Tuesday he wouldn't change the Senate's filibuster rule at the start of the 109th Congress, essentially preserving the Democrats' ability to block President Bush's judicial nominees from winning Senate confirmation.
In a speech Tuesday opening the 109th Congress, the GOP leader instead called for cooperation among Republicans and Democrats. "I seek cooperation, not confrontation," Frist said. "Cooperation does not require support for the nominees. Cooperation simply means voting judicial nominees brought to the floor up or down."
Former Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), writing for HUMAN EVENTS last month, wanted to change Senate Rule XXII, which governs the filibuster, this week. Hatch noted that only 51 votes would be needed (as opposed to 67 once the Senate convenes) to change the rule, thereby preventing a minority of Democrats from permanently holding up a nominee. Hatch’s plan would give Democrats time to debate a nominee, but would eventually cut off discussion after four votes on the Senate floor.
Frist did not completely rule out a change to Rule XXII in the future--"I reserve the right to propose changes … and do not acquiesce to carrying over all the rules from the last Congress," he said--but a Senate aide told HUMAN EVENTS it would be much more difficult to make changes during the middle of the Senate's session as opposed to the beginning.
Frist's reluctance to go along with Hatch's plan--despite offering a Senate resolution in 2003 that did essentially the same thing--leaves Republicans with limited options to counter the Democrat-led filibusters. Because Republicans control only 55 seats-- five short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster--they are likely stuck in the same situation they faced in the 108th Congress when Democrats successfully blocked 10 of Bush's nominees.
"Some I know have suggested that the filibusters of the last Congress are reason enough to offer a procedural change today, right here and right now," Frist said Tuesday in his statement. "But at this moment I do not chose that path. Our Democratic colleagues have new leadership, and in the spirit of bipartisanship, I want to extend my hand across the aisle."
Democrats, however, have shown little willingness to cooperate with Frist and allow the Senate to vote on Bush's judicial nominees. In fact, when Bush renominated 20 judicial candidates on Dec. 23 who didn't win confirmation in the 108th Congress, Democrats immediately pounced on the President.
"I was extremely disappointed to learn today that the president intends to begin the new Congress by resubmitting the nomination of extremist judicial nominees," Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) said in a statement at the time. "Last Congress, Senate Democrats worked with the President to approve 204 judicial nominees, rejecting only 10 of the most extreme."
Frist better count his fingers when he gets his hand back.
A worthy successor to 'Grease Me Up' Trent Lott!
Frist covets the presidency; he is very ambitious. He is also extremely wishy-washy. Without a doubt, he is not reliably conservative.
There's a bunch of political wrangling going on. They saw this as effective with getting Daschle out of office, and they're hoping that they can get what they want anyway. And if the Dems block again, to make it a National election issue in the next set of campaigns. It's not a bad strategy, it's just a frustrating one if you're not patient.
The Media wouldn't run news stories on the blocked judges when their corrupt Democrat buddies were blocking them. But they CAN'T IGNORE the national publicity on a US Supreme Court nominee. And that gives the Repubs the National TV podium to make the DemonRats look like the obstructing morons they truly are.
It's not as bad as it looks although I'd just as soon like to see the rule change.
Re-Designed ANTI-DNC Web Portal at --->
http://www.noDNC.com
Alrighty then, I can't wait for my monthly call from the RNC...
YOU figure it out!
*Sigh* Okay, folks, all together now:
-Dan
I dont know if I want too....
if it is what I think you are alluding too, thats stupid/counter productive/illegal....
LOL!!
Chicksh*t.
I'll wait until Bush gets a nomination before I get worried, I guess. But I do think Frist is a weasel, not that most Senator aren't, of course.
G..g..g.g..g...good th..th...th....thing. Th...th...dems..m...mm..mmm ....might use th..th....r...r...rule.....ch...change against us....wh...wh..when we b...b...become th...th....m...m..mmmm....minority. Shew...
Well now this situation needs to change.
I read Frist's statement differently. I saw it partially as a threat (I don't believe he has ever before publicly committed himself to the 'nuclear option' if the filibusters are not lifted) and partially as political cover. This was his spin that it is not him destroying Senate tradition but Dems who already have...but he is willing to give them one more chance to make it right.
All that said, I don't see the dems backing down. They always play hardball. And they are used to R's caving. The question becomes, will Frist act on his threat or cave? That I don't yet know, but I don't think this speech is necessarily evidence that he will.
Then what good does it to elect these BASTARDS?! ANSWER ME THAT!?
NO PARTY STAYS IN POWER FOREVER. I, like Senator Frist, would prefer to find a way to get a vote on the President's nominees, without invoking the Nuclear Option. I would be especially unhappy with the GOP if they attempted to do away with the filibuster procedure without even forcing the Democrats to mount a real filibuster.
Republican In Name Only
The Republicans could hold 90 seats in the Senate, and they'd still let the remaining Dems block President Bush's judicial nominees.
Riiiiiight. Can someone remind me of the textbook definition of insanity just one more time?
The only way these people are going to develop spines will likely involve freak accidents with chevy axles.
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