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Largest Federal Union Calls Senate’s Use of the Nuclear Option a ‘Sad Day for Democracy’
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) ^ | April 07, 2017 | American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr

Posted on 04/09/2017 12:16:43 PM PDT by mdittmar

AFGE laments the Senate’s alteration of rules
to push through Judge Neil Gorsuch

WASHINGTONIn response to the U.S. Senate enacting the so-called “nuclear option” on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. issued the following statement:

“It is disappointing to see Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell change the rules of the Senate to allow for a simple majority vote on Supreme Court nominees now and in the future. He has rolled back long-standing Senate rules and traditions to lower the bar for Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, in essence making Gorsuch nothing more than a garden-variety political appointee.

“For nearly a year, AFGE has asked Congress to do its job and hold hearings for Judge Merrick Garland. It’s a sad day for democracy when partisan senators refuse to do what’s right to get what they want. Working people in America are under constant attack and continue to face numerous attempts to undermine their rights at work from insiders looking to roll back provisions that unions have long fought for. Forcing through a justice by a simple majority vote shows that leaders in the Senate don’t care about the working class.

“Congress had a chance to have a serious debate about the impact of Judge Gorsuch’s lifetime appointment on working people in America. Supreme Court Justices will now be political appointees, serving for life.

“Last year I stood outside the Supreme Court with hundreds of others asking our elected representatives to ‘Do their job,’ and now it’s safe to say they have let us all down. It’s unfortunate that faced with the idea of having to put forth a new and better nominee for all of America, Senate leaders have instead run roughshod over long-established rules and guidelines so they could get their way.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 115th; afge; biglabor; gorsuch
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To: Gene Eric

tell these a$$holes that the 60 vote super majority was an old boy’s rule. McConnell just threw it into the trash can. End of story


21 posted on 04/09/2017 12:48:21 PM PDT by Kozy (new age haruspex; "Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth.")
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To: mdittmar

Funny, I don’t recall this or any other union saying a dang thing when the 60-vote rules was instituted in 2003 to block George W from putting judges on the federal bench.

All we’ve done is returned to the original intent of Congress. And is it any wonder that the very first “filibuster” was by a Dimocrat?


22 posted on 04/09/2017 12:48:56 PM PDT by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D. - What Would Jack Bauer Do?)
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To: mdittmar

Makes you question Scalias death even more doesn’t it?


23 posted on 04/09/2017 12:49:40 PM PDT by momincombatboots (Gas attacks. Substitute Sadam for Assad and Iraq for Syria? How many American lives do you commit)
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To: 2banana
Trump needs to rescind JFK’s executive order allowing public unions...

Ditto to what you said. There are no good reasons for allowing government unions. There already exist civil service protection laws to protect the civil serpents.

24 posted on 04/09/2017 12:53:18 PM PDT by Gritty (They can't run us over if we don't let them in or bomb us if we don't let them stay. - D. Greenfield)
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To: mdittmar

McConnell didn’t change the rules, he just put them back as they were for over 200 years. Great day for the Constitution.


25 posted on 04/09/2017 12:53:32 PM PDT by Logical me
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To: mdittmar

The socialists finally lost one.


26 posted on 04/09/2017 12:53:53 PM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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Cool. Long live the Republic!

Not only that but simple majority rule IS Democracy. A 60 vote majority is not Democracy. That's mob rule.

27 posted on 04/09/2017 12:54:23 PM PDT by USCG SimTech
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To: mdittmar
Yes, it was a sad day for Democracy.

That's because one doesn't exist here.

We are a Constitutional Representative Republic.

It was a great day for a Constitutional Representative Republic.

Do any of these idiots know our Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

28 posted on 04/09/2017 12:55:45 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (NeverTrump, a movement that was revealed to be a movement. Thank heaven we flushed!)
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To: USCG SimTech

Remember, you’re talking to folks who refuse to keep score.

They participated. They should get something for that you know. /s

Yes, in the end it does come down to a majority vote. That vote didn’t take place without the Republic electing Representatives.

We are a Constitutional Representative Republic.

People were voted to office with simply majorities. You could say that is majority rule. When those Representatives (Congressment and Senators) go to Washington, they are not bound to vote a certain way.

Majority rule does not force them at that point. They can vote against their constituents at times, and so this is not a true Democracy in that sense.


29 posted on 04/09/2017 1:04:32 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (NeverTrump, a movement that was revealed to be a movement. Thank heaven we flushed!)
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To: mdittmar
I went ahead and culled comments I see here and sent them to afge through their "Report a problem" function - just for fun:
You hypocrites!
In virtually the same breath you lament the "sad day for democracy" while stating "Forcing through a justice by a simple majority vote shows that leaders in the Senate don’t care about the working class."
You dolts! Passage by virtue of a simple majority is the very essence of democracy - and the reason why the Founders favored a Constitutional Republic instead. You're only mad because you failed to get what you wanted - not because of any abandonment of "long-established rules and guidelines". Invoking the Reid rule became a necessity when dhimmicrats promised to derail the advise and consent process. And please don't lie about the nomination process becoming a political one - the left created the partisan environment long before Gorsuch. Remember Bork?
I'm elated to see that you're angry about yet another loss for the left - because that loss means a win for America! Regards,
An American Taxpayer

30 posted on 04/09/2017 1:40:11 PM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: mdittmar
It’s a sad day for democracy when partisan senators refuse to do what’s right to get what they want.

Where was this jackazz while Husseincare was being written in secret meetings?

31 posted on 04/09/2017 2:14:51 PM PDT by Libloather (Trivial Pursuit question - name the first female to lose TWO presidential elections!)
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To: bigbob

I think the filibuster is gone and over. The Demonicrats courtesy of Harry Reid killed the filibuster when he went nuclear years ago. If the demonicrats were in control of the Senate they would go nuclear in a second to advance their chosen candidates to the Supreme Court and they should, just as Mitch McConnell went nuclear to advance our candidate to the Supreme Court.

Harry Reid did the Senate a great service by doing this. I think in the future we should refer to this as the “Harry Reid Rule.”

The filibuster is dead, today, yesterday and tomorrow!
The filibuster is dead, today, yesterday and tomorrow!
The filibuster is dead, today, yesterday and tomorrow!
The filibuster is dead, today, yesterday and tomorrow!

Did I mention that the filibuster is dead?


32 posted on 04/09/2017 2:25:23 PM PDT by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Mud Man, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist. CONSTITUTUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR!)
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To: mdittmar

The Senate and Senators have not been worthy of the filibuster since the 17th Amendment.


33 posted on 04/09/2017 2:27:39 PM PDT by Thickman (Libsteria is funnier than confounded GOP "leaders".)
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To: mdittmar

So a credit union is opining on the Senate’s elimination of the filibuster? The committee chair of Boy Scout Troop 3712 said that it was irrelevant what a credit union thought of the filibuster rule.


34 posted on 04/09/2017 2:37:37 PM PDT by SSS Two
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To: mdittmar
How,In God's name,are government employees...Federal,state,county or municipal...allowed to unionize???
35 posted on 04/09/2017 2:42:55 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Deplorables' Lives Matter)
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To: Da Coyote

“Government unions, and their members. should be shot, hung, burned, and buried in the sun.”

Pull their health benefits. Force everyone in government to buy their own Obamacare policies.


36 posted on 04/09/2017 3:08:47 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Nuke Bilderberg from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.)
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To: mdittmar

Unless you called it a sad day for Democracy when it was used by Senator Reid you are just being a silly hypocrite!


37 posted on 04/09/2017 3:37:19 PM PDT by 48th SPS Crusader (I am an American. Not a Republican or a Democrat)
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To: mdittmar

And their opinion means something because....?


38 posted on 04/09/2017 4:37:22 PM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: mdittmar

J. David Cox, I think Federal Unions is a sad time for America. GTH, Moron...


39 posted on 04/09/2017 4:46:41 PM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (Proud to be a DeplorableAmerican with a Deplorable Family...even the dog is DEPLORABLE :-))
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To: mdittmar
“It’s a sad day for democracy when partisan senators refuse to do what’s right to get what they want.”

It’s a really sad day when the RATs have cognitive dissonance when it come to the words “do what’s right!”

40 posted on 04/09/2017 4:59:51 PM PDT by vette6387
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