Posted on 11/28/2012 8:44:28 AM PST by raptor22
Congress: Changing the filibuster rule come January has suddenly become a top priority for Senate Democrats who want to help their re-elected president complete his fundamental transformation of America.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday blasted Democratic-led efforts to reform the filibuster, something the Democrats once vehemently opposed but which Majority Leader Harry Reid has promised to bring up in the next Congress, fearing the Republicans will dig in to block President Obama's agenda.
What Reid and the Democrats will come up with is unknown at this point. Among the options is to ban filibusters that block the start of floor debates and House-Senate conference committees from convening.
One proposal would force senators to actually get up and talk endlessly in order to filibuster legislation, which senators were required to do until 1975, as depicted in the classic Jimmy Stewart film, "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington."
Then there's the so-called "nuclear option," which would call for just a simple majority, or 51 votes, to change Senate rules. Changing the rules usually requires two-thirds of the chamber, or 67 votes. It's something Reid vehemently opposed in 2005, when Senate Republicans ruled the roost.
Some GOP senators in 2005 considered the nuclear option to push President Bush's judicial nominees that were being held up, but only for judicial nominations. Sen. Reid was a valiant defender of the filibuster then, saying: "Some in this chamber want to throw out 214 years of Senate history in the quest for absolute power ... . They think they're wiser than our Founding Fathers. I doubt that's true."
(Excerpt) Read more at tcotblog.ning.com ...
Short version: why Romney lost. Repubs play by the rules. Dems simply tear-out your throat.
Who cares. All that would do is make the House even less likely to pass any bills, which will be a good thing.
I don’t think this will happen. Dems. know they wont always be in the majority and they want to have this when they are not.
Of course they are.
Yep! Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight...
it is not just the laws that get passed, it is the confirmation process....failure to take the Senate was a key loss for the GOP, more so than Romney losing.
Hopefully Reid has the big one soon.
Dems are calculating that it will be a decade if not more before the Republicans retake the Senate majority. Given the buffoons running the GOP, it’s hard to disagree with the analysis, particularly since GOP incompetence is exacerbated by Dem fraud.
I had always thought that nuking the filibuster rule could come back and bite the party that loses power.
Now, since the Republicans just go along with the Dhimmicrats, it really doesn’t matter.
John “Bawler” Beohner’s outrage is soooooooo insincere.
I am all for getting rid of filibusters. What will be funny will be if Republicans ever get the Senate again, Democrats will be scrambling to put it back. They will have “learned” that it was a mistake to get rid of it. And even funnier, Republicans will fall for it.
bingo...
Wrong. Boner will say “We might lose the election if we don’t let Reid screw us.”
Its probably important for the UN gun ban treaty which BO is supporting.
Lord, please rid of us of that little weasel and all the rest of the demons from hell in the Senate!
Treaty ratification requires a 2/3 Senate vote. Not likely.
2/3rds of those present, not the full senate
Ah, but what if, once the Dems are back in the minority, they convince the stupid Repubicans to "reach across the aisle" and in the "spirit of comity" put things back the way they were?
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/appearance/595908388
If the repubics ever get the senate back, which they will not, they will put the rule back in place and be filibustered by the democrats every step of the way.
“I don’t think this will happen. Dems. know they wont always be in the majority and they want to have this when they are not.”
Remember, whilst Dim-bulb-crats have no brains, Repulsicans have no b*lls.
Should the RINOs ever get in power again, they’ll bend over, do whatever the MSM tells them to, and change the rules to whatever the dim bulbs want.
Sorry, that’s life.
Until we tar, feather, and launch the GOP into the sun.
Wanna know what a eunoch looks like?
Google Boehner.
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