Senate Dems go nuclear

[Dusty Bake Activate]

"It's about damn time"-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/senate-filibuster-reform_n_4316325.html

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 just three Democrats declining to go along with the rarely used maneuver.

From now until the Senate passes a new rule, executive branch nominees and 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 hurdle of 60 votes, which has increasingly proven a barrier to confirmation during the Obama administration.

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 under President Barack Obama outpaced any historical precedent.

Half the nominees filibustered in the history of the United States were blocked by Republicans during the Obama administration; of 23 district court nominees filibustered in U.S. history, 20 were Obama's nominees; and even judges that have broad bipartisan support have had to wait nearly 100 days longer, on average, than President George W. Bush's nominees.

"It's time to change before this institution becomes obsolete," Reid 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.

McConnell responded to Reid by changing the subject to the Affordable Care Act and accusing Democrats of trying to distract Americans 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 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."

Normally rules changes in the Senate need 67 votes, but the majority can challenge an existing 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.

Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) broke with their party and joined Republicans in opposing the move. Pryor is in an uphill reelection contest, which may explain his vote, but Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska), who are also top GOP targets in 2014, backed the rules change.

Levin, a Senate traditionalist, has long been the most outspoken opponent of rules reform, and led a successful effort to stymie the movement earlier this year. Manchin, meanwhile, has great reverence for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), a fierce champion of Senate tradition, likely explaining his vote. (Byrd did make several attempts to change the rules himself when he served as majority leader.)

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who has long been skeptical of changing the rules, cast a critical vote very late in the process supporting the move. That left Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a recent convert to reform, to cast the 51st vote, with Reid casting the 52nd.

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

But Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who chaired the Judiciary Committee back when it was Democrats trying to stall Bush's nominees, echoed McConnell, suggesting newer 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."

 

[Chris.B]

this won't be so nuclear when the republicans become the majority

 

[No1]

Who can blame them

 

[Julius Skrrvin]

at nobody addressing the elephant in the room

 

[CACtain Planet]

Senate Adopts New Rules on Filibusters

A bitterly divided Senate voted Thursday to ease the confirmation process for most presidential nominees, a momentous and potentially risky step that limits the ability of Republicans to block President Barack Obama's choices for executive-branch and most judicial posts.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) engineered the rules change, over Republican objections, with a complicated parliamentary maneuver that ended up placing new curbs on the use of the filibuster—a move so controversial that it is often called the "nuclear option."

"The American people believe Congress is broken. The American people believe the Senate is broken…It's time to change the Senate before this institution becomes obsolete," Mr. Reid said.

The key vote was 52-48, with all but three Democrats—Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Joe Manchin of West Virginia—voting for the change and all 45 Republicans opposed.
The move would limit the ability of the minority party to deploy the filibuster, a delaying and blocking tactic. In an institution that prides itself on giving power to the minority party, the filibuster is the minority's main source of leverage. Its most vivid portrait in popular culture came in the movie, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

The rule change advanced by Mr. Reid makes it easier to confirm nominations along party lines, by allowing them to proceed with just 51 votes. Currently, Republicans have the power to require 60 votes, by invoking filibusters, in order for a confirmation to proceed. The change would apply to most executive branch and judicial nominations, but not to nominations to the Supreme Court and to legislation.

The move marks a major adjustment to the rules of the Senate, a proud, tradition-bound institution that hasn't made a change of this magnitude in years. In a sign of the importance of the seemingly arcane debate, dozens of senators were present and seated at their desks in the Senate chamber as the day's proceedings began, a rarity. The Senate's most senior Democrat, Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) served as presiding officer, a role typically filled by junior members.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said Republicans had approved 99 percent of Mr. Obama's judicial nominees and that the change would diminish the Senate's constitutional "advice and consent'' role in assessing nominations.

He said Mr. Reid was trying to divert attention from the flawed rollout by the Obama administration of the 2010 health-care law, and said the drive to change Senate rules represented a raw use of power akin to the tactic used to pass the Affordable Care Act. "They muscled through Obamacare on a party-line vote and didn't care about the views of the minority, and that's just about what they are going to do here," said Mr. McConnell.

Democrats say the filibuster has been abused as a weapon of obstruction rather than a last-resort vehicle for principled opposition. Republicans have "turned 'advice and consent' into divide and obstruct,'' Mr. Reid said.

Since late October, Republican senators have blocked Mr. Obama's pick to lead the agency that oversees Fannie Mae FNMA -2.72% and Freddie Mac FMCC -3.17% and three nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Shortly after changing the rules, Senate Democrats used the new, 51-vote threshold to advance to a final vote after a Thanksgiving recess the nomination of Patricia Millett to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Ms. Millett's nomination cleared a procedural hurdle with support from 55 senators. Republicans previously had blocked her nomination under the 60-vote requirement.

On Wednesday, Mr. Reid rejected a deal proposed by Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) to confirm one judge to the D.C. Circuit Court, according to an aide.

The last substantial change to confirmation rules came in 1975, when senators established the 60-vote threshold for ending filibusters. Previously, two-thirds were required.

The debate also marked a reversal from a similar Senate debate in 2005, when Republicans held the majority and threatened to impose their own rules change. At the time, Democrats had blocked a set of judicial nominees chosen by President George W. Bush.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said at the time that the rule change would end "the checks and balances which have been at the core of this Republic.'' Mr. McConnell said then that changing the rules wasn't unusual. "Despite the incredulous protestations of our Senate colleagues, the Senate has repeatedly adjusted its rules as circumstances dictate," he said.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304607104579211881413579404

 

[DEAD7]

 

[CACtain Planet]

Who can blame them

Lets see if you feel that way come 2016 with a ReBloodlican controlled Senate and President

 

[Richard Wright]

The future of this country will be determined in '14 and '16.

"If God is just, I pray for my country" - Thomas Jefferson

 

[Box Cutta]

this won't be so nuclear when the republicans become the majority

You expecting them to take the presidency anytime soon?

 

[Chris.B]

You expecting them to take the presidency anytime soon?

the senate at least.

No republican can beat Hillary

 

[Robbie3000]

They should have done this during the first term. The GOP's use of the filibuster to block nominations is unprecedented.

 

[Box Cutta]

the senate at least.

No republican can beat Hillary

They have a chance at the Senate in 2014 because more Dem seats are open. But even then, 2016 is an election year and Dems are likely to take it back/gain more seats.

The House is a shyt show because of fukkery and Dems may not even have a shot until like 2020.

 

[feelosofer]

This was necessary, imo. This goes both ways but at least allows Obama to have a fair shot at passing legislation moving foreward.

 

[No1]

This was necessary, imo. This goes both ways but at least allows Obama to have a fair shot at passing legislation moving foreward.

This isn't about legislation. It's about judicial nominees. They don't want Obama to fill crucial federal judicial positions, particularly the DC court which is considered the second most influential court aside from the SCOTUS.

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

about time