next time Filibuster your a&&
Posted on 07/18/2012 4:39:17 PM PDT by Kaslin
He might be bluffing or playing to the MSNBC audience, but don't be so sure. He's already changed Senate rules on the fly to deny Republicans the opportunity to force uncomfortable votes and exploded Senate precedent on the amendment process within the last few years. Next up: Legislative filibuster Hiroshima?
In May, Harry Reid apologized for killing off a 2010 filibuster reform bill, admitting that the legislative procedure has been “abused, abused, and abused.” Reid has now gone a step farther: the Senate Majority Leader is now openly promising to pass filibuster reform in the beginning of the next Congress if Democrats manage to hold onto a simple majority in the Senate and if Obama is reelected. Reid made the remarks on Friday to MSNBC’s Ed Schultz, a day after Democrats were unable to overcome the GOP threat of a filibuster on a small-business tax-cut bill, which failed on a 53-44 vote:
REID: They’re just trying to kill this bill, as they’ve killed scores of other bills we’ve had because they’re filibustering. They’re filibustering until we have to change the rules. We can’t go on like this anymore. I don’t want to get rid of the filibuster, but I have to tell you, I want to change the rules and make the filibuster meaningful. The filibuster is not part of our constitution, it came about as a result of our wanting to get legislation passed, and now it’s being used to stop legislation from passing.
SCHULTZ: But you’d change the rules…
REID: Oh, we could have done it in the last Congress. But I got on the Senate floor and said that I made a mistake and I should have helped with that. It can be done if Obama is re-elected, and I can still do it if I have a majority, we can do it with a simple majority at the beginning of the next Congress.
SCHULTZ: Think the President will go along with that?
REID: You damn betcha.
Republicans have launched an unprecedented number of filibusters because Reid has used unprecedented tactics to block them from forcing tough votes or even offering amendments to legislation. (See: "filling the tree.") The only recourse for an otherwise powerless Senate minority, therefore, is to block cloture. This gridlock is a byproduct both of Reid's dreadful leadership and of the American people's will, which sent 63 new House members and seven new Republican Senators in 2010 explicitly to obstruct the Democrats' extreme agenda. Also, notice how Reid talks tough about nuking the filibuster only "if Democrats manage to hold onto a simple majority in the Senate and if Obama is reelected." Wait, so majority leader Reid wouldn't blow up decades of Senate comity and precedent under a President Romney? How very curious! I wonder why he'd suddenly rewind his jeremiad against long-established minority rights in that case. I'll leave you with this classic clip of pretty much every single Democrat Senator (including you-know-who) railing against the "tyranny" of the so-called nuclear option when Republicans were considering a form of it in 2005:
Obama and Democrats on Reconciliation/Nuclear Option 2005
Keep in mind that this was all in response to a limited anti-filibuster maneuver (ultimately averted by the Gang of 14), which would have required a simple majority only for judicial appointments. After all, Article II of the Constitution says that the president "shall appoint" members of the judiciary, with merely the"advice and consent" of the Senate. James Madison had argued that a super-majority should be required to block such an appointment. The most relevant quote in the montage comes from California's Diane Feinstein:
"It begins with judicial nominations. Next will be executive appointments. And then, legislation."
Democrats vociferously objected to the judicial nuclear option a few years ago because it could open the door to the unthinkable: Doing away with the sacrosanct legislative filibuster. If Democrats win, Reid is promising to skip straight to that ultimate detonation.
Don’t be a wuss Harry, change it now.
On Dec 21, 2012, Obama will have had a little over a month to stew in his humiliating, crushing and unexpected defeat at the hands of the American people.He’ll still be Commander in Chief.
He’ll still have the nuclear ‘football’. Just sitting there. Staring at him. Taunting him. Daring him. Double-eaten-dog daring him...
Reid is a smarmy little dictator.
next time Filibuster your a&&
Does that mean Harry would be okay with us getting rid of the filibuster when we win the election?
How did you get that broken finger, Harry?
Dick Cheney punched me in the nose.
Anyone who's seen "Casino" and know the story behind know that "Senator" was,in real life,Nevada State Senator Harry Reid.So he had practice before arriving in DC...
FINALLY, something that I can agree with him on. So let’s make a deal: Whomever controls the Senate in 2013 kills the filibuster. Assuming we win the Senate, they are doomed.
Right you are. The Demonrats are hell-bent on setting up a one-party, perpetual dictatorship, perhaps including giving the Usurper the right to a third term. I firmly believe this upcoming election is the most vital in our history.
Of course, if they lose (which is highly likely), he’ll use it to block any decent reform bills.
Why wait????
Reid has the simple majority now! He might not have it come January.
Come on Harry, go for it now if you got the guts to be a real leader!
See post # 1 there is no if or buts about it
What a great way to start the year. Senate agenda:
Day 1, item 1: suspend the filibuster for one day.
Day 1, item 2: repeal Dodd-Frank, Affordable Health Care Act, other laws as deemed appropriate
Day 1, item 3: legislatively repeal all Code of Federal Regulations rules adopted from 2009 through 2012.
Day 1, item 4: disband the United States Departments of Education, Commerce, etc. etc. etc.
Day 1, item 5: legislatively remove jurisdiction from federal courts to hear appeals on any basis whatsoever from convictions in state courts for violations of state laws.
Day 1, item 6: dissolve half of the United States District Courts in the country (courts to be retained to be selected by the Federalist Society)
Day 1, item 7: dissolve the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Day 1, item 8: cut congressional salaries to $25,000; senatorial salaries to $35,000. Eliminate current legislative retirements packages, replace with social security and medicare.
Day 1, item 9: recess Congress until next year's one-day session.
This is much better, don't you agree?
Sad when democrats energize our base more than our own candidates.
I can’t wait to honor this SOB the only way he deserves - by pissing on his grave! Pass me a Big Gulp and stand back so you don’t get splashed!
legislative procedure has been “abused, abused, and abused.”
This from the man who files for cloture at the same moment he files a bill.
Reid is an oligarch. He doesn’t like to actually legislate.
The best Republican senatorial response is to take him at face value, and say if the Republicans get control of the senate, they will not only stop the filibuster, but also the ability of a single senator to stop the operation of any senate business by ‘flagging’ it.
This means a single senator would not be able to block senate hearings, judicial appointments, or other business.
Someone with some Photoshop skills should make a video of Reid standing on the Capitol steps ripping up a copy of the Constitution.
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