Posted on 11/07/2012 12:13:12 PM PST by Nachum
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he will try to push through a change to Senate rules that would limit the GOP’s ability to filibuster bills.
Speaking in the wake of Tuesday’s election, which boosted Senate Democrats’ numbers slightly, Mr. Reid said he won’t end filibusters altogether but that the rules need to change so that the minority party cannot use the legislative blocking tool as often.
“I think that the rules have been abused and that we’re going to work to change them,” he told reporters. “Were not going to do away with the filibuster but we’re going to make the Senate a more meaningful place.”
Republicans, who have 47 of the chamber’s 100 seats in this current Congress, have repeatedly used that strong minority to block parts of President Obama’s agenda on everything from added stimulus spending to his judicial picks.
A filibuster takes 60 senators to overcome it.
Leaders of both parties have been reluctant to change the rules because they value it as a tool when they are in the minority.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
There is a solution to this threat: NO MORE UNANIMOUS CONSENTS!
Have the senate vote on absolutely everything. Get these people on the record for every single vote they take. No voice votes. Yeas and Nays for everything.
And an extra check is the House. No negotiations with the senate before they pass something. Let them pass a bill, get their members on the record, and then the negotiations with the House begin (as is the proper legislative conference process).
Harry Reid hates to have to take votes. He hates having to put his members on the record. And he hates not knowing what’s going to happen ahead of time. He wants himself, Boehner, and Obama to get together, decide what’s going to happen, then ram it through.
The answer to tyranny is regular legislative order, each House acting on its own issues, holding votes on them, then going to conference, agreeing on one common piece of legislation, passing it and THEN sending it to the president. There should be lots of votes, lots of conference committees and lots of votes. Make the senators work for their pay!
Harry would sing a different tune if we had taken the Senate yesterday. What a real pathological d$%^che.
I told the Republicans the same thing when they held the majority, but I wouldn't expect the Dems to fold that quickly.
What filibuster?
When was the last time the GOP actually did a real filibuster?
good, let them have their way...and when things fail, they own it.
Yep.
That is exactly what I was thinking
0m0slem can declare them in recess at will.
not gonna happen
We have two legislative bodies for a reason. The House has an enormous amount of power. But it takes a peron of determination and will, such as a Gingrich, to wield it. Boehner seems to have ceded all legislative authority and power to the senate and specifically, to Harry Reid. Reid can’t do crap without the House acting, either before or after the senate. The House conservatives need to have the balls to start voting down bills, and furthermore, sending to the senate, bills whose funding is well below the senate’s desired levels.
Leave the president completly out of it until the legislative process is oomplete. The Speaker of the House is a far more powerful position than the Senate Majority Leader. Boehner needs to be willing to use that power, or step aside for someone who is.
Abuse of the filibuster process? Does anyone remember the Bush years?
What is the job of the (R)s in Congress? They are the other faction in the corrupt "Two-Party Cartel". In the end the elites get whatever they want & you lose your money & liberties.
8:45AM? Does Congress start at 8:30? My guess is it’ll end at 3:30PM, the filibuster having started after lunch at 1:30. It’ll start after lunch, so there’s time in the morning to tell everybody not to show up in the afternoon. 3:30 leaves time to get to the bathroom, before the slow stroll to happy hour at the bar.
How many seats did we lose yesterday??
I see the root cause of this division pointing directly at 50+ years of conservatives being far too flexible. Only in the past 10-15 years have they finally started pushing back and digging in their heels. It does not work both ways for these people, they have a very successful method of distributing misinformation and painting conservatives with descriptions that mush-headed voters actually believe. I mean, some of this sh#$@ is downright ridiculous...
I mean, I'm a VERY conservative republican and I don't drag black people from the bumper of my truck and I'd stand in the path of anyone who thinks it's ok. I have no interest in "setting women back 100 years", I have no interest in telling them how to manage their bodies and reproductive organs... I don't bully homo's at work, I don't want poor people to starve, rich people to have 99.9% of all the wealth, I don't' want people to die for lack of healthcare, I don't hate people because of where they were born... this list is miles long and neither you nor I look like the picture these demons have painted.
But unfortunately, they have succeeded. They have done major damage to our country and our individual sovereignty all in the name of winning the football game. I mean, it is SO out of control, Obama could literally commit murder, admit it live on CNN and his polling numbers wouldn't change. Look at Jesse Jackson Jr. The man is a mental disaster, unable to serve anyone right now including himself. He's most likely committed several felonies and is under investigation for them... he just won an ELECTION.
I've completely lost faith at this point. It's not humiliating, its actually very sad. But the reality is, they now outnumber us and there is no reversing it. When blacks vote at a rate of 94% based on skin color, what are we to gain? People are uninterested in the final score, they only care about what they can get right now. Politicians see us as idiots, and for the most part, we are. We just re-elected a president who is projected to be running a 20 TRILLION dollar deficit by the end of his term and all they were interested in was Romney's dog riding on top of his car and what tax rate he paid on his personal income. Face it man, we are done.
What goes around!!! (See my Tagline)
We used to say that that amnesty would not pass because:
1) The GOP would not pass it in the House
2) It would be filibustered in the senate.
Now, Boehner says he will make a “comprehensive immigration” deal with Obama and Reid is working on the filibuster rule
#1 Bohner is a very weak leader who's track record the past two years as Speaker is pathetic. It has been a disaster. In comparision Look how Pelosi handled a similar situation for her in 2005 and 2006.
#2 Republicans got their clocks cleaned last Tuesday not only Romney but the House AND Senate when they original expected to take control of the Senate.
Keep in mind and you know it, many Republicans thought they were going to get huge win on election night till Hume and Ingraham on FNC started talking about a possible defeat election night. Although at least one here told me he only said it but he never believed it ??/
Now the talk is about stolen votes (all the swing states??) and possible impeachment.
the party is in complete disarray. Don't expect anything good anytime soon. I cant be optimistic at the moment.
BTW : You were NOT one of the Pollyanna's, your expectations were more realistic,
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