Posted on 11/13/2014 4:49:46 PM PST by gaijin
On Nov 21st of last year Harry Reid chose the "Nuclear Option", breaking 40 years of Senate tradition of according the minority party a generous say in the country's affairs:
Reid's claim was that under the traditional rules "the Senate is broken" --under Reid's new rules, federal judicial nominees and executive-office appointments would "negotiate roadblocks" and advance to confirmation votes by a **simple majority** of senators, rather than the 60-vote supermajority that had been the requirement.
Reid's new rules meant the Senate minority would suddenly have a smaller voice, a condition much less generous and much more typical of legislative bodies around the world.
Do any freeps know where this now stands..? Are the current post-election rules simply permitted to remain in the place where Reid suddenly relegated them to..?
Does anyone know if the new Senate intends to "Be Big about their win" and change the Senate rules back to Supermajority from Simple Majority..?
My feeling is that people who leap to make their political bed in a radical new way...
SHOULD BE MADE TO **SLEEP** IN IT.
Does anyone know if our guys are going to Act Like Winners or instead go back to being lick-spittle toadies...?
Riight..!
OK, so for now the proper GOP course would be to revert to the old 60-vote rule for as long as Obama remains Prez. Then, when there's a Conservative Prez, Senate GOP gets pay back by switching the rules, as Reid did, to the much lower 51-vote simple majority, thereby almost automatically confirming any conservative appointment.
Right?
I just want to get super clear on it, because the 2013 Nuclear Option event stands out very clearly in my mind.
GOP want Power Sharing ?
Lynch as an example. All the Dems vote in favor. Then enough GOPe also vote in favor. McConnell, McCain, Hatch, Collins, King (I)....
They weren’t elected to share power. The nuclear option should stay in place.
Why would you want any of Obama's nominees considered under the simple majority rule rather than the 60 vote requirement? With the democrats controlling 46 votes, they would only need to win over 4 republicans and along with the vice president, they would have the 51 necessary to confirm. If the 60 vote requirement is put back into place, they would need to attract at least 14 republican votes. Four is quite likely but fourteen is not.
Under the simple majority rule, the four most liberal republican would be the most powerful people in the senate and the fourteen most conservative would be the least powerful. I hope we don't shoot ourselves in the foot in a foolish effort to get even with Harry Reid.
Mitch has the same goals as Obama it seems, under any rules
Reid should probably be impeached. I suspect the dirt is out there to do it, but no one will. Some penalty should be imposed by the Senate for his actions.
He violated the Senate’s own rules, and a penalty should be imposed. They have the power to kick him out of the Senate, they will not because they fear the old media too much.
Since blog pimping is frowned upon in this establishment, here is the section that I wrote about this back in 2012:
“THE GANG OF 14
The camaraderie of the Senate was under attack when President George Bush decided to fulfill his duty and appoint his choice for judgeships. Progressives threatened to filibuster. However, the Republicans planned what became known as the dreaded Nuclear Option. It was an attempt by Bill Frist, then President of the Senate, to end a filibuster by amending the Senate rules to end the filibuster by a simple majority of 51. A 60-vote majority is needed to call for cloture on a filibuster by current Senate Rules. Changing this rule was, and still is, completely inside the bounds of the Senate Rules and the Traditions. That fact is key. So is this fact; it has all happened before, and it will all happen again. Republicans at that time had a 55-vote majority which could have removed the filibuster and allowed each nominee an up or down vote, once again according to the Constitution and to tradition. The tradition of the Senate has been historically to give every nomination an up or down vote. By filibustering, the Senate Democrats gave a higher threshold for the nomination process, a 60-vote majority instead of a simple majority. A group of Democrats and Republicans formed to stop this attack at the calm Senate atmosphere. The seven Republicans of the Gang were: John Warner (VA), Susan Collins (ME), Olympia Snowe (ME), Mike Dewine (OH), Lindsey Graham (SC), Lincoln Chafee (RI), and John McCain (AZ). The Gang of 14 was not a rock group or punk band. These Republicans in name only forged a group with seven other Democrats to stop the use of the dreaded Republican nuclear option. In a conservative turn, Senator Orrin Hatch defended the dreaded Nuclear Option. President Bush had begun his presidency calling for a New Tone in Washington politics. He wanted everyone to play nice. Charging to the defense of the New Tone in danger by principled Conservatives, Senator Bob Dole loosed a blistering editorial. He decried the dreaded Nuclear Option which would allow the Senate Republican Majority to end the filibuster of Bush’s nominees. This was met by the glorious applause of his Senate cohorts. During the McCain 2008 Presidential run, McCain was being sold as some heroic ender of filibusters, finder of peace, and calm hand at the wheel. McCarthy and Levin wrote a piece that repudiated that false narrative. James Madison saw the Senate as a place where cooler heads prevail, as the cool saucer for the hot and lively House. It did not turn out that way for the Senate this time. Sadly by May 24 th of 2005, the RINOs won by stopping the dreaded Nuclear Option. They ended debate, and they only allowed certain nominees a vote. They refused to “advise” the rest of the President’s choices. This Gang of 14 changed the understanding of “advise” in
the Constitution’s Provisions for the Executive Branch. Even more troubling is the language at the end of the official statement which supposes some quasi-permanent agreement to institutionalize this agreement for judicial nominations. This is an incredibly unconstitutional and dangerous precedent in Senate rules. Three of the seven RINOs are no longer in the Senate. Senator John Warner, a distinguished World War II veteran, did not seek reelection in 2008. During his tenure, John Warner was a supporter of gun control who voted for the Brady Bill, fought with Diane Feinstein for a 10-year extension on the Assault Weapons Ban, voted against Reagan’s nomination for Supreme Court Justice, the extremely qualified Robert Bork, worked to undermine the Bush Administration’s detainment of terrorists, and worked unsuccessfully to make Cap and Trade a reality. Mike Dewine lost his Ohio Senate seat in 2006 to Democrat Sherrod Brown. This was due to Dewine’s participation in the Gang of 14, his gun control beliefs, and the corruption scandal of Republican Governor Bob Taft. Lincoln Chafee was a member of the Republican
Main Street Partnership who supported abortion. He opposed the death penalty, opposed charter schools supporting failing public schools, supported embryonic stem cell research, supported gay rights, supported the Death Tax opposing any repeal, and consistently lobbied Israel to retreat from its land. He voted against President Bush by writing in George H. W. Bush on his general election ballot. He opposed John Bolton’s nomination, and was the only Republican to oppose the nomination of Samuel Alito. Chafee even considered running against George Bush for the
nomination of the Republican Party! No wonder Human Events gave Lincoln Chafee the ignoble title, RINO of the year. However, it is a wonder why after years of defiant opposition from Chafee, President Bush decided to stump for him in the primary against a conservative who lost by an extremely small margin. So typical of a Progressive Republican. The peace of the Senate was restored, which meant that the Democrats won. Conservatives cringed at the damage done by this band of misguided fools.
Commentators asked the beleaguered troops to be angry but wait for the eventual collapse of whatever “extraordinary circumstances” came to mean. Conservatives were correct to expect a short-lived truce. The lofty ideals the Gang of 14 fell back down to earth. Filibusters resumed in earnest in
2011. The Gang was broken.”
Yeppers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.