Contact your Congress critters to let them know that you are tired of high gas prices.
Posted on 07/23/2008 6:16:33 AM PDT by Kaslin
Senators when they place a hold upon various bills. A hold is really a threat to filibuster. With up to six separate opportunities to filibuster any bill, a hold is a powerful tool to force the Senate to take due consideration of each and every Senator's concerns.
"It's difficult to work around a Senator. Ultimately, it's a cloture vote. It's very time-consuming, and you can't do that on most issues," Maryland Senator Ben Cardin told THE POLITICO newspaper.
Before the August recess, the Senate is expected to consider a proposal by Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) which would make the Senate more like the House of Representatives, where a one-vote majority is all that is needed to run roughshod over the interests of the minority.
Reid is cleverly disguising the impact of his idea by framing it as a means to undercut the already unpopular anti-spending hawk, Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK).
Coburn is not afraid to block legislation, even when his actions hit close to home. Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), reports THE POLITICO, "still betrays some anger after being in Coburn's crosshairs a few months back over an earmark that Nelson was pushing for a Nebraska company which employed his son." The Alaska delegation still is smarting over Coburn's exposure of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," its multibillion dollar raid on the Federal Treasury.
Reid plans a single up-or-down vote on a package of seventy or more spending proposals to which Dr. Coburn has objected. This massive bill, already nicknamed the "Coburn Omnibus," is a frontal assault on the rights of all Senators.
Reid spokesman Jim Manley gave the game away when he told THE POLITICO that Coburn is "exercising his rights as a Senator, but his approach is contrary to the traditions of collegiality and bipartisan compromise in the Senate. No wonder it's so hard to get things done when a handful of junior members insist on a their-way-or-the-highway approach to legislating."
Senator Reid has not exactly been a shrinking violet when it comes to "my-way-or-the-highway" legislating. Reid has spent years blocking efforts to store spent nuclear fuel rods in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, terming the proposal "the screw Nevada bill," before recently cutting the budget for this program by $108 million.
Manley has also said:
The idea that Senator Coburn is talking about the traditions of the Senate is ridiculous. Look what happened last time we did this. Senator Coburn held up action on dozens of bills for narrow, personal reasons, demanding debate and four amendments. These bills were held up for months; the Senate had to waste precious time to allow him to offer a few amendments. Each amendment failed by overwhelming bipartisan margins (63, 76, 67, 73 votes against), and the final bill passed 91-4 (Coburn, DeMint, Vitter and Inhofe being the only Nos). That is not debate and amendment; it is abuse, obstruction and delay.
Jim Manley, meet Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Sanders has been insisting upon fast-track consideration of his bill to vastly increase taxpayer subsidies for heating oil, which is important to his New England State. Implicit in Sanders' demand is a threat to obstruct and delay other bills until his concerns are satisfied.
Given that polls suggest a bigger Democratic majority in the 2009 U.S. Senate, Reid's interest in curtailing the over two century-old power of Senate minorities to have their interests taken into account may be obvious.
Were Reid to have the unchecked powers of a latter-day Lyndon B. Johnson during a Democratic Administration, the leftist dream of another burst of Great Society-style legislation would be close to fruition: national health care, amnesty for illegal aliens, card-check unionization and every other plank of their agenda nearly would be unstoppable.
Yet it is hardly in the interest of leftist Senators like Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy (D-MA) or Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) to be reduced to rubber stamps for the latest ideas from the White House.
Should the Senate pass Reid's "Coburn Omnibus," it will be crossing a procedural Rubicon from which there is no turning back.
Socialists lie. Always.
Why is it always about tricks, gimmicks and ginning the works with Democrats? Why can’t they just get on with business and do some work? Arrogant bunch of lawyers.
mark for later
Well they can’t help it. It comes natural to them
Democrats - Doing the things the Republicans should have, but didn’t have the balls to do when in power.
ah. one step closer to socialist paradise just like in soviet union.
/sarcasm off/
WTF!!?? Why the hell should I subsidize your heating bill with my tax dollars? If you can't pay for your own heat, kick the maple syrup habit and move south or buy a wood stove to augment your home heating. Why would they even try to push such crap on the rest of us?
Does this surprise anyone? Having used the senatorial hold time and again the Democrats will now change the rules and make sure the GOP can't use it against a President Obama.
Harry Reid: massive failure.
I think we would all be amazed and aghast if we knew just how complicated the system is. Term limits for both the congress critter and the staff would go a long way in making it more efficient.
Democrats - Doing the things the Republicans should have, but didn’t have the balls to do when in power.
POST OF THE X!!OXI!! DECADE!!!
Nothing surprising here...they can’t win playing by the same rules every one else is governed by, so they change the rules.
Mitch McConnel...where are you...
Prediction:
If Obama wins, watch the Senate ‘rats move to eliminate both the “holds” and the “60 vote rule” for cloture.
BUT - their changes will have a “sunset” built-in for only four years. So if that afterwards they are pitched out of power, they can go right back to behavior “as before” under a Republican majority.
- John
Reid’s proposal would also have to pass by 60 votes. Given the future ramifications of a move like this it is unlikely there would be close to this many votes for. After all the libs won’t control Congress forever and it will come back to bite them at some point in the future.
Something’s bad broke and the first step to fixing it is to figure out just what's broke. It's like the place is on auto pilot and a new member just comes into the cockpit, sits down, watches the thing fly itself, is allowed to make changes to the autopilot program and then leaves when they are voted out or retire. Every change ever made is just piled up on top of all the earlier changes.
One thing that would really help would be to make them set up their primary office in their home district or state. There is no longer a need to have them all up there, feeding off each other's greed, hiding from their constituencies, feeling themselves to be little gods. Make ‘em come home, face the people they are supposed to be representing. Give a chance to get in their face when necessary.
Wasn’t it tiny Tom Dashle who first brought up the 60 vote rule? Now that the table is turned, they don’t like it.
As is Nancy Pelosi
You get one guy with common sense who wants to curb the waste & fraud in government, and they crucify him.
I have no sympathy for the RINOs that didn’t have the guts to use the same rules when they had the chance. Remember all the handwringing over the so-called nuclear option? A lot of good judges didn’t get appointed because the Republicans didn’t want to offend their friends on the other side of the aisle. Apparently their friends don’t see things the same way. Surprised?
IMHO:
Because with the liberal paradigm there is no moral compass, no true right and wrong, no established truth.
All that matters is the continuation of “enlightened” supremacy.
No institution, tradition or accepted belief is to be held in esteem over their need for dominant and intellectual power.
The best line I’ve read that states this premise simply is; “Conservatives believe what they see, Liberals see what they believe”.
The dubious truth with the ruling class of liberals today is that although they would like us all to buy into their esoteric utopian one-world mind set, they themselves are not constrained by it.
The question is; how or better yet what will it take to wake the “sleeping giant” from this Huxley-ian world we Americans find ourselves in?
Four years of dominant liberal socialism?
Eight?
All I can say is, come Jesus come!
When the area that they work in is taken into consideration I am not surprised that most of them are considered as criminals.
Crime Risk
These scores represent the risk of personal and property crimes for this area compared to the national average.
Personal Crime Risks
Murder 7.72 x National Avg.
Rape 1.47 x National Avg.
Robbery 4.99 x National Avg.
(taking another’s property by violence or intimidation)
Assault 2.95 x National Avg.
(threatening or attempting to injure another)
Property Crime Risks
Burglary 1.18 x National Avg.
(entering with the intent to commit theft)
Larceny 1.39 x National Avg.
(unlawfully taking another’s property with the intent of keeping it)
Motor Vehicle Theft 4.31 x National Avg.
Total Crime Risk
Total Crime Risk 1.87 x National Avg.
Information provided by and copyright © 2006 On Board LLC. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Republicans in charge: Changing the rules will shred the Constitution. Harms the traditions and customs of the institution. Bullying their way and trampling over the rights of the minority.
Democrats in charge: A must because it speeds up legislation the American Sheeple demand. The GOP are just obstructionists.
MEMO to the Idiot party known as the GOP!!!:
The next time you get control, change the rules on the RATS and don't cower and assume the fetal position like you did some many times when you ran the show and could have changed the rules. Recall the “nuclear option” and all the empty threats? That's why we in flyover country have lost confidence in you all in DC. GROW AND EFFING PAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Per a press release issued by Americans for Limited Government, Senator Coburn (R-OK) has sent a letter to Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) offering his thoughts on the upcoming debate over a package of bills which the Oklahoma Senator has placed a “hold” on. This hold keeps the otherwise non-controversial bills from being passed by unanimous consent.
Here’s an excerpt:
While the proposed omnibus spending bill that you have expressed your intention to bring to the floor next week is unprecedented in size, scope and practice-it nearly reaches across the full spectrum of the federal government and contains over 100 individual bills suggested by over 10 committees-it would be my preference that this bill should be considered under the usual Senate rules allowing amendments and debate.
In the interest of achieving our shared goals, however, I would be willing to enter into a unanimous consent agreement that would limit amendments and debate as long as, first and foremost, the cost of the bill is addressed and I am given an opportunity to offer amendments to address other issues of concern.
Senator Coburn estimates that the cost of the omnibus bill could reach $25 billion. He wants to see offsets provided to pay for the cost of the package.
The letter goes on to note potential agreements for debate once the bill reaches the Senate floor if no such agreement on how to pay for its cost can be reached:
The end of the letter leaves open the possibility for other agreements to be reached between the Majority Leader and Senator Coburn. Read a full copy here (pdf).
A special thanks to one of our readers for providing a copy of the letter.
Update: Donny Shaw at OpenCongress has a list of some bills likely to be included in the omnibus. It now appears that the package may be trimmed down to around 40 pieces of legislation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t worry guys, this will NEVER happen. Because as soon as Harry tries it, a gang of democrats is *certain* to “reach across the aisle” to join forces with us. Just exactly the same way the gang of 14 did back when eliminating the 60 vote majority would have benefited Bush’s judicial appointees. Remember?
Impy wants to change the rules: Legalize the flogging and robbery of Senators by angry me.
The unions would be happy if the 60-vote majority requirement was eliminated--it would make it easier to push through the bill to end the secret ballot in union elections (making it much easier to unionize workplaces by intimidating workers one at a time).
there's a holdup on the bill,
cloak room's broken out in fights,
there's a cloture vote that's due,
but will fail thanks to the right,
there's a funding bill due today,
Obama wants to have a say,
Majority Leader Reid where are you?
When the Dimocraps do it it's called 'progressive leadership"
What a bunch of socialist idiots.
Sooner or later these morons need to be thrown out of office.
“senator reid wants to change the rules.”
corrections: “senator reid wants absolute power.”
IMHO
Contact your Congress critters to let them know that you are tired of high gas prices.
My mornings are made by watching that little twerp Reid on CSPAN p*ss & moan followed by Senator McConnell verbally beating the s*it out of him and the rest of the liberals.
BE ON GUARD”
“Should the Senate pass Reid’s “Coburn Omnibus,” it will be crossing a procedural Rubicon from which there is no turning back.”
I am not in favor of either what Sen Coburn is able to do single handedly -
(it’s not an official Senate rule that a single Senator can put a “hold” on a bill or executive appointment - without any hearing, without any vote, just on their say so; its just Senate tradition; kind of like Senators having a mutually agreed on dictatorship society where each Senator is granted the full power of the Senate, acting alone) -
nor in how Reid is trying to get around it without having full hearings and complete votes on the individual measures Coburn is blocking.
The U.S. Senate HAS NOT BEEN the “world’s greatest deliberative body” for a very long time.
The reporter of this story took Reid’s lies and reported them.
Coburn is not “blocking” the bills. He is fighting to be allowed to offer an amendment and have a debate for each bill.
Note how upset some senators were that Coburn got to present 4 amendments to another bill. If they had just let him do it, with a 20-minute time limit, it would have taken less than 2 hours to get through all his amendments. They waste more time than that in quorum calls each day.
This is really about senators not wanted to have to go on record supporting things by actually having to vote.
I agree. I knew Harry was full of it long ago and this action was in response to Coburn raising valid questions about what was actually in the bills. IMHO, more bills need to be blocked if they have pork or are just utterly ridiculous (saving snails, shipping our dollars overseas for the “poor”).
ah. one step closer to socialist paradise just like in soviet union.
/sarcasm off/
____-
How is this sarcastic. Speaking the truth will always reap opposition. There is no need to act like you don’t mean it.
The tricky 60 [Democrats eagerly await Congressional majority Nov. 2008]
Politico.com | July 22, 2008 | John Bresnahan
Posted on 07/22/2008 5:28:39 AM PDT by bd476
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049298/posts
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