Posted on 01/27/2011 7:07:48 AM PST by RatherBiased.com
Great. More unconfirmed 'czars'. Morons, the lot of them.
LOLOL......oh we never thought they would filibuster the filibuster reform.
Nice to know that our side has gotten some Palin/Bachmann at last.
Taver will likely not be appointed the BATF Head, nor will a slew of Marxist judges be appointed.
With 23 Dem Senate seats up next year compared to 10 for the GOP, even stupid Dems should see the hazards involved in rewriting the rules for minority members.
“Drat, foiled again.” - Harry Reid
Hooray, the Left loses another one.
The Dems seem to be never serious
They should have confirmed Traver in the lame duck, if they wanted the gun-grabbing jack-booted thug. Now he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.
I have a sneaking suspicion that come 2012 when the GOP has a majority in the Senate and the Democrats are filibustering everything in sight then GOP opposition to the change will disappear and Democratic opposition will magically appear.
Filibuster reform will be fine... at the beginning of 2013, when the dems lose majority status in the Senate. It would have to be renewed every year after that.
That, not the filibuster, is the critical part of that article. It is their constitutional obligation to vet appointments, and now they’re going to give that up?
The deal:
“Page S263
Rules Change Resolutions—Agreement: A unanimous-consent-time agreement
was reached providing that at a time to be determined by the Majority
Leader after consultation with the Republican Leader, the Senate
proceed to the consideration of the following resolutions, en bloc: A
Wyden-Grassley-McCaskill resolution relative to ``secret holds’’ which
is at the desk; A Udall (CO) resolution regarding waiving the reading
of an amendment, which is at the desk; S. Res. 8 (Harkin); S. Res. 10
(Udall (NM)) with a substitute amendment which is at the desk; and S.
Res. 21 (Merkley) with a substitute amendment which is at the desk;
that there be up to 8 hours of debate equally divided between the two
Leaders, or their designees, for the purpose of debating these
resolutions concurrently; that upon the use or yielding back of time,
the substitute amendment to S. Res. 10 be agreed to and the substitute
amendment to S. Res. 21 be agreed to; the Senate then vote on or in
relation to the resolutions in the order listed above, with no
intervening action or debate; that the following resolutions be subject
to a 60 vote threshold for adoption: Wyden-Grassley-McCaskill
resolution; and Udall (CO) resolution; that the following remaining
resolutions be subject to a threshold of two-thirds of those voting for
adoption: S. Res. 8; S. Res. 10, as amended; and S. Res. 21, as
amended; that there be no amendments, motions, or points of order in
order to any of these resolution prior to the vote on or in relation to
the resolution, except for the substitute amendments to S. Res. 10 and
S. Res. 21, listed above; provided further, that if a resolution fails
to achieve the listed threshold for adoption, it be returned to its
previous status.
“
Looks OK but it’s suspicious that some (S. Res. 8; S. Res. 10, as amended; and S. Res. 21, as amended) are only subject to a 2/3 of those voting threshold instead of a 60 vote threshold!
yea
Isn't it amazing how politicians (lawyers, most of them) are unwilling to be bound to simple concepts like time or money?
Sort of like "deem and pass". They just make up the rules as they go along.
Net pick up of 10 is not out of the question.
Forcing game-changing legislation to have to put together 61 votes in the Senate - that combined with the slow turnover of the senate (1/3 of the seats up every 2 years) does provide a cooling saucer as the founding fathers famously said to cool the passions of the lower house. Said another way, I think the filibuster is, on balance, a good thing.
However - this “secret hold” stuff - whereby 1 senator can blackball a nominee and to do so in private - I can’t see where this is a good idea. If memory serves people like Dodd used this to stymie Bush from appointing various people who had strong anti-commie credentials going all the way back to Nicaragua and the contras.
Forcing 61 senators to vote publicly for a major piece of legislation is a good thing. Allowing 1 senator to carry out a secret agenda in private that prevents a president from appointing the people that he needs do discharge his constitutional responsibilities - I can’t see how that is a good thing.
It was the Rats that wouldn’t go along. And it’s because they know they’ll be in the minority in two years, and then the filibuster will work to their advantage.
That’s what the cloture rule is all about: making sure a temporary majority doesn’t steamroll the temporary minority, Without it, essentially all important legislation would be reversed, and then re-reversed ad nauseum as the temp majorities and temp minorities oscillated back and forth over the years. Fortunately, there are enough adults in the Senate, including quite a few adult Rats apparently, to still realize the importance of this rule.
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