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Largest Federal Union Calls Senate’s Use of the Nuclear Option a ‘Sad Day for Democracy’
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) ^ | April 07, 2017 | American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr

Posted on 04/09/2017 12:16:43 PM PDT by mdittmar

AFGE laments the Senate’s alteration of rules
to push through Judge Neil Gorsuch

WASHINGTONIn response to the U.S. Senate enacting the so-called “nuclear option” on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. issued the following statement:

“It is disappointing to see Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell change the rules of the Senate to allow for a simple majority vote on Supreme Court nominees now and in the future. He has rolled back long-standing Senate rules and traditions to lower the bar for Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, in essence making Gorsuch nothing more than a garden-variety political appointee.

“For nearly a year, AFGE has asked Congress to do its job and hold hearings for Judge Merrick Garland. It’s a sad day for democracy when partisan senators refuse to do what’s right to get what they want. Working people in America are under constant attack and continue to face numerous attempts to undermine their rights at work from insiders looking to roll back provisions that unions have long fought for. Forcing through a justice by a simple majority vote shows that leaders in the Senate don’t care about the working class.

“Congress had a chance to have a serious debate about the impact of Judge Gorsuch’s lifetime appointment on working people in America. Supreme Court Justices will now be political appointees, serving for life.

“Last year I stood outside the Supreme Court with hundreds of others asking our elected representatives to ‘Do their job,’ and now it’s safe to say they have let us all down. It’s unfortunate that faced with the idea of having to put forth a new and better nominee for all of America, Senate leaders have instead run roughshod over long-established rules and guidelines so they could get their way.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 115th; afge; biglabor; gorsuch
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Well,here's an old song I like;)

Elvis Presley 1972 - Funny How Time Slips Away - HQ Audio

1 posted on 04/09/2017 12:16:43 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: mdittmar

They talkin’ about The Reid Option? They’ll get over it.


2 posted on 04/09/2017 12:17:47 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: mdittmar

Cool. Long live the Republic!


3 posted on 04/09/2017 12:19:20 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!)
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To: mdittmar

Trump needs to rescind JFK’s executive order allowing public unions...


4 posted on 04/09/2017 12:20:36 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: mdittmar
“Congress had a chance to have a serious debate about the impact of Judge Gorsuch’s lifetime appointment on working people in America"

They expect that "serious debate" to begin with a declaration that Democrats get whatever they want, and then end.

5 posted on 04/09/2017 12:20:55 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Abortion is what slavery was: immoral but not illegal. Not yet.)
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To: mdittmar

What did they say when Harry Reid did it?


6 posted on 04/09/2017 12:21:14 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: mdittmar

“””””””“Last year I stood outside the Supreme Court with hundreds of others asking our elected representatives to ‘Do their job,’ and now it’s safe to say they have let us all down. It’s unfortunate that faced with the idea of having to put forth a new and better nominee for all of America, Senate leaders have instead run roughshod over long-established rules and guidelines so they could get their way.””””””””””””

Yeah, that’s the cool thing about winning an election, you get to choose your own judges.


7 posted on 04/09/2017 12:22:17 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: mdittmar

I suppose, with all their hand wringing over its removal, that the Democrats will reinstate this filibuster rule if/when they ever take control of the Senate back right?

Sure.


8 posted on 04/09/2017 12:22:36 PM PDT by Personal Responsibility (We need a separation of press and state!)
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To: Jim Robinson

Sad day for democracy???

But then, we aren’t a democracy.

We are a constitutional republic.

And the “nuclear option” was simply an action by the Senate, in accordance with the constitution, in setting their rules of procedure. Each house of congress sets their rules per the constitution.

And the nuclear option had already been exercised by Harry Reid and Democrats, for lower court nominees.

Getting rid of the filibuster for presidential nominees, once considered unthinkable, became thinkable because Democrats started this whole nonsense.

And now we hear wailing from the liberals about how democracy dies in darkness, how the GOP is leading us to dictatorship and fascism, Trump is Hitler, ad nauseum.

And an irony is that Democrats such as Tim Kaine, before HIllary’s loss in the election, said that Democrats would invoke the nuclear option to get Hillary’s nominees to the Supreme Court confirmed, if she became president.


9 posted on 04/09/2017 12:24:59 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: mdittmar

I always love to ask this question of liberals when they bring up the Garland nomination: Since the senate found the nominee to not even be worth holding hearings over, why didn’t the president withdraw the nomination and nominate someone whom the senate might approve of?

How did it go a year of ‘accept my nominee or I’ll leave the seat vacant’? Why were they never angry at Obama for not putting forward another nominee?

To the democrats who say that ‘now SCOTUS nominees are nothing more than political appointees’, I always ask which of Obama’s SCOTUS nominees were anything more than political appointments? I mean, those were the most transparently political appointees that Obama nominated, none of which would stand up to half of Gorsuch’s record.

And if they’re really that upset about laws created by SCOTUS disappearing, why haven’t they taken steps to encourage their party members to return the power of making laws to the only body that constitutionally can do so?

Oh, right, because the voters might take it out on them..

Democracy is always something they support, so long as it is for something they support. Democracy (50+1) for something they don’t support is of course ‘chilling.’


10 posted on 04/09/2017 12:26:54 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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To: MarvinStinson

Hey don’t you know the leftist motto..its A OK when Democrats do it, its just when Republicans do it then its evil..just like with war..Dems do it its all good, Republicans do it oh the poor children


11 posted on 04/09/2017 12:27:09 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: mdittmar

Sad day was when Fed employees were allowed to unionize. Shoulda never happened. they forgot who they work for!!!


12 posted on 04/09/2017 12:30:00 PM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: 2banana

Agreed!!!


13 posted on 04/09/2017 12:30:33 PM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: Mollypitcher1

I was thinking the same thing.


15 posted on 04/09/2017 12:33:59 PM PDT by TheDon (MAGA!)
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To: mdittmar
Last year I stood outside the Supreme Court with hundreds of others asking our elected representatives to ‘Do their job’

They did and you're still not happy.

16 posted on 04/09/2017 12:35:10 PM PDT by Repeal 16-17 (Let me know when the Shooting starts.)
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To: mdittmar

You are a union.

A government union.

Unions have problems, but have some use.

Government unions, and their members. should be shot, hung, burned, and buried in the sun.

FU, AFGE. Now, in the future, and forever. Rinse, repeat.


17 posted on 04/09/2017 12:39:55 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: mdittmar
He has rolled back long-standing Senate rules and traditions...

Yeah, all the way back to 2003 when partisan democRats started this "tradition".

It’s a sad day for democracy...

But a pretty good day or the Republic.

18 posted on 04/09/2017 12:40:36 PM PDT by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: Jim Robinson

Exactly.


19 posted on 04/09/2017 12:44:28 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: mdittmar

The Leftists love to talk about “democracy”, but they claim that this is bad for democracy. Last I checked, democracy means that 51% rules the 49%.

Which is why we are not a democracy. But they wouldn’t understand that.


20 posted on 04/09/2017 12:47:11 PM PDT by Bryanw92 (If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some eggs.)
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