Posted on 11/21/2013 6:13:21 AM PST by sickoflibs
The Senate is on the verge of striking down the long-standing filibuster rules for most presidential nominations, potentially doing so on a party-line vote that would alter nearly 225 years of precedent.
Democrats, infuriated by what they see as a pattern of obstruction and delay over President Obama’s nominees, expect to trigger the showdown by bringing up one of the recent judicial nominees whom Republicans blocked by a filibuster. According to senior Democratic aides, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) will set in motion a complicated parliamentary process that ends with a simple-majority vote setting a new rule that will allow for swift confirmation of executive branch nominees and most selections for the federal judiciary without having to clear a 60-vote hurdle.
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The impact of the move is more far-reaching, however. The means for executing this rules change — a simple-majority vote, rather than the long-standing two-thirds majority required to change the chamber’s standing rules — is more controversial than the actual move itself.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Heard the same thing.
Fox Business is reporting that Reid’s motion passed and that Judicial nominations except for the Supreme Court, and nominations for senior Administration positions will now only require a simple majority.
they know they will lose the Senate next year so this is a gasp.
Democrats just went nuclear on judges!
This will suck away all the attention the o-care debacle has been getting. Smart move by the donks. They kill two birds with one stone.
We can now properly say that McCain's "Gang of 14" was a failure.
they know they will lose the Senate next year so this is a gasp.
They won’t lose the senate. Even if they did, they can now do a helluva lot of irreversible damgage in a year. Scorched earth.
I went out and found this post because this morning ~ 8 am MSNBC news was reporting that Reid had the votes.
Libs there were giddy about it.
I was surprised that no one else here was on this subject but maybe FNC ignored it.
IMO, it was a dumb move. The GOP can tie Reid’s behavior to the same behavior that saddled people with Obamacare.
This wasn’t a smart move at all, especially now.
elections have consequences. This is why people were fighting to win all those senate seats in 2010.
Well, that was quick. It was almost like they had planned it right before a major holiday so no one would notice the change and they could start ramming through as many activist judges as possible ....(breath)...
...nah, they’re Senators. They have ethics!
Well this should change the subject for a while....
For the public at large? For Average Joe voter? Nah, only news junkies like you, me and the rest of FR cares about stuff like this. For the rest of the American Idol America this won't matter one whit, and will go especially unnoticed because it's so close to Thanksgiving.
Which is the Rat plan of course. Now all their judicial wet dreams can come true without all that pesky news attention generated by filibusters.
Gotta hand it to the Dems. They sure know how to destroy the country, both in the short term (Obamacare) and the long term (stacking the court with left wing loons).
It was a smart move if you believe that stacking the court with left wing liberals will have a long term effect that will change many of the constitutional protections that have stymied the Dems while they have the majority.
And it is a smart move if the Dems believe that they might lose the Senate in 2014. They need to get as many judicial nominees thru as possible now.
And it is a smart move if the Dems believe that they are on the verge of becoming the permanent majority party based on our rapidly changing demographics.
If the Reps don't stand together in the Senate and House and declare their own version of the nuclear option, i.e., there will be no cooperation with the Dems until the Senate nuclear option is rescinded, then they deserve to be the wimps abused and derided. We need street fighters not these perfumed princes.
Well this should change the subject for a while....
Yup. Now the media has a great excuse to ignore o-care.
Great...and when we retake the Senate next year we will defund ObamaCare with a 51-vote margin.
If they really think they will lose the senate, whats to stop them from switching back to the old rules again just before the election?
I have to agree with you. I don’t see anything in the Constitution about this filibuster rule. And it will make it easier for us to get rid of Obamnacare. Admittedly, the way things are going, we’ll probably get a lot of Democratic votes to get rid of it, so changing the rule may not really make much difference in that regard.
I don’t think so...the Dems will change the rules back after the GOP wins a Senate majority (in November) but before they take office (the following January). They’ll make the GOP vote to change the filibuster rules themselves. And of course John McCain and the usual nutless suspects will refuse to do it.
When I see Harry Reid or Charles Rangel on TV it serves as a reminder of why we need to defeat liberals. They are the epitome of the slimy politician who cares for nothing but the acquisition and retention of power and also to line their pockets at the taxpayers expense.
The know they are going to lose in 2014 and are bent to do as much damage as possible before then.
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