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View Full Version : Harry Reid FINALLY Grows Some Balls!



Va Beach VH Fan
11-21-2013, 12:43 PM
FINALLY!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/senate-filibuster-reform_n_4316325.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Senate Votes For Nuclear Option
Posted: 11/21/2013 12:36 pm EST

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pulled the trigger Thursday, deploying a parliamentary procedure dubbed the "nuclear option" to change Senate rules to pass most executive and judicial nominees by a simple majority vote.

The Senate voted 52 to 48 for the move, with several Democrats declining to go along with the rarely used maneuver.

The net effect was that from now until the Senate passes a new rule, judges nominated for all courts except the Supreme Court will be able to pass off the floor and take their seats on the bench with the approval of a simple majority of senators. They will no longer have to jump the traditional -- and increasingly used -- hurdle of 60 votes.

Reid opened debate in the morning by saying that it has become "so, so very obvious" that the Senate is broken and in need of rules reform. He rolled through a series of statistics intended to demonstrate that the level of obstruction during the Obama administration outpaced any historical precedent.

"It's time to change before this institution becomes obsolete," he said, before citing scripture -- "One must not break his word" -- in accusing Minority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) of breaking his promise to work in a more bipartisan fashion.

Normally rules changes in the Senate need 67 votes, but the majority can challenge a rule, and if the presiding senator rules against the challenge, the majority can then ask for a vote on the chair's ruling. If a simple majority votes to overrule the chair, it sets a new precedent.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) responded to Reid by speaking about Obamacare and accusing Democrats of seeking to change the subject from the law's troubled rollout. Getting around to fidelity, McConnell noted that Reid had said in July that "we're not touching judges," yet he was now choosing to do so. Reid casually brushed off his suit coat and sat down.

McConnell compared the alleged duplicity to another Democratic piece of rhetoric. "If you like the rules of the Senate, you can keep them," he quipped, as the GOP side laughed heartily, which encouraged a pleased McConnell to turn directly to his colleagues and repeat the joke.

He then turned to the Democratic side and said he understood why inexperienced young members who'd never been in the minority might want to change the rules. "The rest of you guys in the conference should know better," he said.

Obstruction, McConnell said, began with the Democrats when they decided to filibuster Circuit Court nominees under former President George W. Bush. "They made it up. They started it," he said, arguing that Republicans were only following their lead. His argument, though, raises the question of why eliminating the filibuster on such judges, if it was never used before 2000, should be seen as an historic development in the first place.

"Stop trying to jam us," McConnell said, warning that it would come back to haunt them. "You may regret it a lot sooner than you think."

A series of votes unfolded as the parliamentary jockeying continued.

The move marks a significant win for the newer crop of Democrats such as Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkely -- the lead proponent of going nuclear -- have grown increasingly frustrated as McConnell expertly employed parliamentary procedures to to stall Democratic nominees and initiatives.

But Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee when it was Democrats trying to stall President George W. Bush's nominees, echoed McConnell, suggesting Democrats such as Merkley -- who have never been in the minority -- were not taking the long view.

"They're -- I want to say this the right way -- they're rustling their inexperienced feathers," Hatch said, calling the historic move a "charade just to try and get off Obamacare."

"It's raw power that they're exercising, that, like I say is a very dangerous thing for them to do, Hatch said. "They're going to rue the day they do it."

Satan
11-21-2013, 12:58 PM
Better late than never Harry. Now how about applying it to ALL Senate votes, and not just the judicial nominations?

Nickdfresh
11-21-2013, 06:05 PM
I don't know if I agree with this. But there is no doubt the Republicans have acted like petty douchebags by holding up judicial appointments and being sourgrapes bitches since the Clinton Admin. You can't run a gov't like that!

Satan
11-22-2013, 07:10 PM
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/imgs/2013/131122-gop-hypocrisy-on-filibusters.jpg