[Cboldt]

[The history of changes to Rule XII] basically voids any argument by the Dems that it takes 60 votes to change a Senate rule. Byrd didn't even get 60 to change the rules but if the Dems argument holds any water they needed 67. Byrd changed the rules 4 times on a simple majority.

Check the historical votes again. Implementation of and changes to Rule XXII were made with at least 2/3rds of members present and voting.

I don't disagree that Byrd has engineered some rules changes on a simple majority, but he didn't engineer a change to the cloture hurdle on that basis.

[tobyhill]

The premise is that Byrd changed rules based on a simple majority, countering any argument that the Dems have now that the Republicans must have 60 votes just to change the rules. 2/3rds were present but it still only required 51 to change the rules then and that's all it should take now.

[kabar]

The Democrats have not needed rules changes in the past because they have dominated the Senate and the House. Over the past century, the Dems controlled the senate most of the time. In fact, the Dems contolled the Senate from 1954 until 1978 without interruption with majorities of up to 30 Senators. They again regained control from 1986-92 and for 18 months in 2000-1 with the Jeffords switch. Is it any wonder that they still think they are in power or at least, think it is their birthright?

The GOP has been the minority party in Congress for most of the 20th Century. The Dems held the House for 40 years straight. During the period 1932 to 1992, the GOP held the majority in the House for just two sessions or four years out of 60.

1936, the Dems had an over 200 member majority over the GOP in the House and over 50 in the Senate. I wonder if the MSM were talking about minority rights then.

In the 20-year period 1958 to 1978, the Dems held the majority in the Senate. During the 11 Congresses, the Dems had majorities of at least 20 Senators 7 out of the 11 times and over 30 twice. For those in Rio Linda, that means there were at least 60 Dems during those years and at least 70 for two of those years.

Until this past decade, the US has essentially been run by one party for over 60 years. The GOP must stop acting like the minority party or it will be again.