Posted on 11/21/2013 9:52:06 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
Edited on 11/21/2013 9:53:53 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
A bitterly divided Senate voted Thursday to ease the confirmation process for most presidential nominees, a momentous and potentially risky step that limits the ability of Republicans to block President Barack Obama's choices for executive-branch and most judicial posts.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) engineered the rules change, over Republican objections, with a complicated parliamentary maneuver that ended up placing new curbs on the use of the filibuster—a move so controversial that it is often called the "nuclear option."
"The American people believe Congress is broken. The American people believe the Senate is broken…It's time to change the Senate before this institution becomes obsolete," Mr. Reid said.
The key vote was 52-48, with all but three Democrats voting for the change and all Republicans opposed. Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Joe Manchin of West Virginia broke from their party and voted against changing the rules.
snip
And to show how much the Republican Party appreciated what he/they done, the Republican Party and the good people of Arizona returned him to the Senate.
In closing, if there was an actual Republican Party instead of a Democrat Lite Party, John Sydney Mc Cain would have been expelled from the Republican Party.
The Dems have no compunction about using raw power to force what they want thru. They did it with Obamacare forcing it thru the Senate with just a majority needed for a phony budget reconciliation motion. It is time for the Reps to fight or retreat.
“Obama will still be in the WH. And if the Reps gain control of the Senate, why would they change the rules back so the minority Dems can block them?”
You need to re-read my post. That reply was to someone saying Hairy Reed would change it back on his way out the door.
My reply would change it right back again.
Same crap as when they replaced Dead Red Ted Kennedy with a selected not elected Senator and seated Al Franken despite his LOSING the election.
By any means necessary. They will change laws one way when they are in power and want them enforced the other way when they are out of power.
Stalinist BS.
Sadly I agree. I can count on to hands the number of Republican senators who are on the side of the American people. And of course there are none with a D after their name.
The writing is on the wall. It will be the last chance to put progressives into meaningful positions as they know chances are they will lose the Senate.
More activist judges should be removed from the bench.
Not as hard as most Freepers think.
Most here do not want to face up to the real problem, because the way it is organized there is little that can be done to stop it, unless they get back the majority, and guess what, the rigged elections make that even harder.
Thanks for the clarification. As I indicated, it actually may be advantageous to go back to the old rules because the Reps have so many RINOs who vote with the Dems even when the Reps have the majority.
Where is Lindsey Graham now?
Where are the rest of the Gang of 14 now?
Anybody here from them? They got anything to say?
This all just came about and passed in the span of a few hours and NOBODY seemed to even know about this. Anybody ever seen this reported anywhere that this vote was being considered and about to happen? So Republicans were COMPLETELY ambushed, right? No idea this could happen, huh?
No appeal to the American public — nothing, nada, zip. Just went off quietly into the night.
COWARDS, TRAITORS.
Republicans should now scream for an up or down senate vote on repealing Obamacare.
Excellent post and hope you don’t mind if I share it.
I was going to post that exact thought.
By any means necessary. They will change laws one way when they are in power and want them enforced the other way when they are out of power.
Barry hits rock bottom in his approval numbers and still the Dems drop this bomb. As always, they fight for every inch of the battlefield. That’s why they win.
If the GOP thinks they can tip toe to 2014 and win they are sadly mistaken. The Dems/MSM will write the narrative and the GOPe will lose again.
So the Democrats ended the unfair filibuster that they used to block 23 Bush nominees.
The earliest that the Republicans could use this new rule to their advantage is 2017. This was an easy decision for Reid.
In the closest race, they just found a box of Democrat ballots to seal the fate.
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.