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To: Robert DeLong
"They only need 60 votes to break a filibuster,..."

Not according to the new Reid nuclear option. We used his new rules to confirm Gorsuch for the USSC. Not surprised he had a fight with his treadmill after passing that new Senate rule. Not being an expert and don't know what legislation the Nuke Option applies to, that was the dumbest thing I've ever seen a dim/socialist do. Talk about unintended consequences. Har!

Well maybe, Pelosi passing Obamacare in he the middle of the night with NO Republican support was the worst. "We have to pass it to see what's in it". Pfft.

42 posted on 01/19/2018 8:50:43 AM PST by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamonauseous. Plus LGBTQxyz nauseous.)
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To: A Navy Vet
You are correct, he used the nuclear option to break the filibuster of certain executive and judicial nominees, not including Supreme Court nominees, rather than the 3/5 of votes previously required. We in turn did it for Gorsuch.

The history of the constitutional option can be traced to a 1917 opinion by Senator Thomas J. Walsh, (Democrat of Montana) who contended that the U.S. Constitution provided the basis by which a newly commenced Senate could disregard procedural rules established by previous Senates, and had the right to choose its own procedural rules based on a simple majority vote.

The constitutional option was given further support in 1957 by an advisory opinion written by then-Vice President (and thus President of the Senate) Richard Nixon. In his opinion, Nixon stated that the Constitution grants the presiding officer of the Senate the authority to override Senate rules by making a ruling that is then upheld by a majority vote.

The maneuver was brought to prominence in 2005 when Majority Leader Bill Frist (Republican of Tennessee) threatened its use to end Democratic-led filibusters of judicial nominees submitted by President George W. Bush. In response to this threat, Democrats threatened to shut down the Senate and prevent consideration of all routine and legislative Senate business. The ultimate confrontation was prevented by the Gang of 14, a group of seven Democratic and seven Republican Senators, all of whom agreed to oppose the nuclear option and oppose filibusters of judicial nominees, except in extraordinary circumstances.

SOURCE

58 posted on 01/19/2018 10:06:11 AM PST by Robert DeLong
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