Posted on 03/15/2005 12:22:27 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Democrats Threaten to Stop Senate Business if GOP Changes Rules on Judge Confirmations By David Espo The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats served notice Tuesday that they will slow or stop most Senate business if Republicans unilaterally change the rules to assure confirmation of President Bush's controversial court appointments.
Any such change would mark "an unprecedented abuse of power," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Reid, the Democratic leader, exempted military and national security legislation from the threat, and said Democrats would not block passage of measures needed to assure continuation of critical government services.
"To shut down the Senate would be irresponsible and partisan," Frist said in swift rebuttal. "The solution is simple: return to 200 years of tradition and allow up or down votes on judges."
The exchange marked the latest development in a long-simmering struggle over Bush's court appointments. Democrats blocked votes on 10 nominees during the last Congress, attacking them as too conservative to warrant lifetime appointments.
Accusing Democrats of obstruction, Republicans sought to make an issue of it in the elections last fall, in which they gained four seats.
Bush has already renominated some of the judges, and Reid has said previously the Democrats' position has not changed.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.tbo.com ...
Leni
I call to praise too but those calls that really 'get' the dirty dog dems are so much more satisfying.
Thank you. I appreciate your insight.
"The climate reeked of bureaucrat fear"
(Paraphrase) "I love the smell of bureaucrat fear in the morning!"
Bookmark.
So let them.
I'm not so sure...how many RINOs do you think will jump ship? After seeing Chaffee this weekend..I bet he leans with the Dems and switches parties...
Accidentally??....you still fall for that old excuse???...lol /joking
You should start another thread on that bet....
If you want to read about this, go HERE.
Scroll down to the Gold & Gupta article, it's all there.
The bottom line is that 51 Senators can change any Senate rule at any time, but that no Senate has ever affirmed a ruling of the chair to allow it-not even in 1967 when Hubert Humphrey had 68 RATS and 20 RINOs, he ruled that a 51% majority could change the rules on a Point of Order, and his ruling was not sustained.
You are asking United States Senators to give up the one thing that makes them more powerful and more important than any other parliamentarians on Earth.
So, you don't just need a majority on the underlying issue-you need EVERY member of your majority to agree to diminish HIS OWN POWER, permanently.
It has never been achieved, and it won't be this time, either.
If you command 51 reliable votes, then, no, you are not wrong.
Agreed!
Expect Sen. Biden to crossdress and support the Rats on this issue!
"Democrats served notice Tuesday that they will slow or stop most Senate business...
Will anyone notice?"
If they do, the deficit will disappear. What will they whine about then?
This is from the Weekly Standard, Scrap book section.
A January 1, 1995, Times editorial on proposals to restrict the use of Senate filibusters:
In the last session of Congress, the Republican minority invoked an endless string of filibusters to frustrate the will of the majority. This relentless abuse of a time-honored Senate tradition so disgusted Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, that he is now willing to forgo easy retribution and drastically limit the filibuster. Hooray for him. . . . Once a rarely used tactic reserved for issues on which senators held passionate views, the filibuster has become the tool of the sore loser, . . . an archaic rule that frustrates democracy and serves no useful purpose.
A March 6, 2005, Times editorial on the same subject:
The Republicans are claiming that 51 votes should be enough to win confirmation of the White House's judicial nominees. This flies in the face of Senate history. . . . To block the nominees, the Democrats' weapon of choice has been the filibuster, a time-honored Senate procedure that prevents a bare majority of senators from running roughshod. . . . The Bush administration likes to call itself "conservative," but there is nothing conservative about endangering one of the great institutions of American democracy, the United States Senate, for the sake of an ideological crusade.
Stopping Senate "business" would save the taxpayers a lot
of money!
I don't think so.
As I understand the proposed rule change, it would only apply to judicial appointments.
The republicans did not do that. The republicans passed a budget, Clinton vetoed it, the govt. shut down. The liberal press said it was the republicans fault and the people believed it. Back then, there was no internet or Fox news to counter the Media Lies.
Let them do it.
We'll pass lawsuit reform, get rid of the gun lawsuits, nationwide CCW reciprocity and everything else we need to protect gun rights forever.
Then what will they do.
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