Posted on 12/31/2010 10:46:46 AM PST by presidio9
Their majority dwindling, some Senate Democrats are planning a showdown on the first day of the new Congress over limiting Republicans' ability to hold up legislation through filibusters.
"We don't want to give the minority the ability to block the majority from governing," Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., a leading proponent of filibuster reform, told ABC News.
According to Udall, momentum is building behind his effort to amend Senate Rule XXII, which allows 3/5ths of the Senate -- or 60 members -- to invoke "cloture" and end debate. Failure to clear that 60-vote hurdle leaves a bill on the table, effectively killing it, and is commonly referred to as a modern "filibuster."
Udall proposes that senators who wish to hold up a piece of legislation be required to engage in a "talking filibuster," in which they would continuously speak on the floor, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"-style, rather than simply using a failed cloture vote to kill a bill.
Udall also wants to eliminate so-called "anonymous holds" that allow any senator to issue a silent objection, freezing a bill or nomination.
In the 111th Congress, which ran from 2009 to 2010, Democrats successfully achieved cloture 63 times, breaking through more Republican-led attempts to filibuster than ever before. But 28 times, Democrats were unsuccessful, leading to the defeat of measures that had majority support -- like the DREAM Act, which would extend a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who entered the country as children.
"There's unprecedented abuse that's gone on the last two years," Udall said. "These filibusters have delayed things. They have obstructed the ability of the Senate to do its job."
Republicans note Udall, a freshman elected in 2008, has never served in the minority in the Senate. They question whether
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Treason to America process of Governance, nothing less.
The Democrat Party can not win to enact their legal agenda based on the long standing practices of our Government so now they demand to change the rules since they lost the election.
This is so Chavez, and will do nothing but propel America down the road to becoming a tinpot dictatorship.
Are they really so stupid on the Left as to not think about the idea that the GOP will just use these same devices back on them?
Seriously?
I’d support both these rules changes. Back when we had the senate I thought it was a scam that dems could ‘filibuster’ a bill just by threat. If they’d actually had to ‘work’ for that filibuster, it would have been much more selectively used. OTOH, needing a 3/5ths supermajority to pass legislation isn’t really all that bad. It shouldn’t be easy to pass a bill.
You have that exactly right!
I’d say the “risk” is more 59 to 41 after the 2012 elections. Reid will be gone as the Majority Senate leader. The Dems could likely lose 12 of 23 senate races of Dems up for election
I'd agree with that. Let the light shine in!
Sounds Like The Tyranny of the Majority that the RATS have complained about for years
Also, look for more stories about "the homeless", coming soon to a Democrat newspaper near you... although the chic propaganda meme of the day seems to be tear-jerker stories about illegal aliens.
Fine. Abolish the filibuster. But do it like Obamacare and make it effective as of 2013.
The Democrats know that the Republican controlled House can block any more socialist power grabs. This is all about Senate confirmation of appointments, particularly judicial appointments.
Any judges that Obama pushes through the Senate during the next two years will be legislating from the bench for the next 30 years.
The dems are far smarter than most people on this thread. The repubs cannot possibly benefit from this move. Dems will change the rules back in the next lame duck session if they lose to the repubs. Don’t you learn anything from them?
“How many disastrous judges would the repeal enable Obama to appoint?”
That is a posibility but there are a few Dem Senators that will not want their yes vote to be tied to a Leftist Judge come 2012.
Actually, there are places where a filibuster could be mounted. The Dems are hoping to break that with procedural votes and "rulings" from "the leadership" including the Senate President (Biden) and the majority leader (Reid).
TexasRedeye wrote:
IIRC only a simple majority is required to change the rules of the Senate.
It's not 100% certain that they'll be able to make these changes.
Also, not all of the proposed changes are that horrible. I do think that there have been abuses of the filibuster lately (from 2000 onward, by both parties). It's too easy under current rules. It doesn't require either strong principles or stamina to mount an actual filibuster. It's been reduced to a calendar move. I'm not sure that's for the best.
Making someone(s) actually stand up there and talk would be a positive in my opinion.
Here's an article and some replies from this morning on this topic. It includes (when you click through to the article) an outline of how Udall thinks he can proceed on this.
Governing as it suits them. They didn’t have a problem for the last 6 years, though, did they? Bat-turds.
Correct. Look at what McCain and his foolish gang of 14 have cost this nation.
Now that's funny. This is exactly their intended function.
I'd like to point out that the filibuster is totally non-constitutional. It is customary only, and a simple majority, the standard actually in the Constitution for the passing of rules, should be able to change it. A past Senate does not have the constitutional power to impose rules on the present Senate. IMO.
When R’s even thought about this for one supreme court nominee, the press immediately labeled it the nuclear option. Now a rat tries the same thing for all legislation—everything—and the crickets are chirping.
house pubbies should inform Reid that any Senate bill that proceeds with less than 60 votes for cloture is DOA in the house.
I agree with you completely. I think the rule change plays into our hands in the long run. Besides, on principle I don’t have a problem with the pure talking filibuster, nor with the idea of requireing Senators to put their name on the record for any holds they place.
I hope you’re right. If Obama’s poll numbers continue to slide, perhaps Dems will be emboldened to oppose him. They certainly haven’t done so up to now.
“Dems will change the rules back in the next lame duck session if they lose to the repubs. “
So what? If they lose the house and try to change the rules back, the Repubs (the new majority) can set it back the first day of 2013.
| Senate Republican Voting Yea in Lame Duck Session | ||||
| Bill | S.510 FDA Food | DADT Repeal | START Treaty | HR3082 Budget |
| Alexander (R-TN) | Yea | Yea | Yea | |
| Barrasso (R-WY) | Yea | |||
| Bennett (R-UT) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Brown (R-MA) | Yea | Yea | Yea | Yea |
| Bunning (R-KY) | Yea | |||
| Burr (R-NC) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Cochran (R-MS) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Collins (R-ME) | Yea | Yea | Yea | Yea |
| Corker (R-TN) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Ensign (R-NV) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Enzi (R-WY) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Grassley (R-IA) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Gregg (R-NH) | Yea | Yea | ||
| Hutchison (R-TX) | Yea | |||
| Isakson (R-GA) | Yea | |||
| Johanns (R-NE) | Yea | Yea | Yea | |
| Kirk (R-IL) | Yea | Yea | Yea | |
| Kyl (R-AZ) | Yea | |||
| LeMieux (R-FL) | Yea | |||
| Lugar (R-IN) | Yea | Yea | Yea | |
| McConnell (R-KY) | Yea | |||
| Murkowski (R-AK) | Yea | Yea | Yea | Yea |
| Roberts (R-KS) | Yea | |||
| Sessions (R-AL) | Yea | |||
| Shelby (R-AL) | Yea | |||
| Snowe (R-ME) | Yea | Yea | Yea | Yea |
| Thune (R-SD) | Yea | |||
| Vitter (R-LA) | Yea | |||
| Voinovich (R-OH) | Yea | Yea | Yea | Yea |
| Not Voting | ||||
| Bond (R-MO) | Not voting | Not voting | Not voting | |
| Brownback (R-KS) | Not voting | Not voting | Not voting | |
| Bunning (R-KY) | Not voting | Not voting | ||
| Gregg (R-NH) | Not voting | Not voting | ||
| Hatch (R-UT) | Not voting | |||
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