Leader Reid says he will push to reform filibuster rule

[Riot]

Finally, even mild-mannered Senate Leader Harry Reid has had enough of deliberate Republican sabotage and obstruction.

WASHINGTON -- After an exasperated rant about Republican obstructionism, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday night that it's time to revamp the Senate's longstanding filibuster rule.

"If there were anything that ever needed changing in this body, it's the filibuster rule, because it's been abused, abused and abused," Reid said on the Senate floor.

Reid's call for changing the procedural rule, which requires 60 votes to end debate on a bill, came after Republicans refused to take up and pass an otherwise noncontroversial bill aimed at reauthorizing the Export-Import bank. Republican leaders said they wanted more time to offer amendments, which forced Reid to file a procedural motion delaying the vote to Monday.

Sixty votes will be needed to end debate on the bill, and a simple majority will be required to pass it. The bill regularly clears both chambers with little fanfare and already passed the House unamended and with an overwhelming majority.

"I have been here in Congress 30 years, but this is a new one. Even bills that [Republicans] agree on, they want to mess around with. In years past, this would have gone through here just like this," Reid said, snapping his fingers. "The House passed something 330-93, and we're here playing around with it? It should be done. We should have passed it yesterday. This thing is going to expire."

The majority leader lamented that he didn't support a previous push by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to weaken the filibuster rule. Instead, Reid made a "gentleman's agreement" in Jan. 2011 with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that they would preserve the rule.

"If there were ever a time when Tom Udall and Jeff Merkley were prophetic, it's tonight," Reid said. "These two young, fine senators said it was time to change the rules of the Senate, and we didn't. They were right. The rest of us were wrong. Or most of us anyway. What a shame."

Good for that p.ussy. Maybe he can sign his knee pads and sell them on ebay as a token of his service to his constituents.

Dumb twat.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

Good for that p.ussy. Maybe he can sign his knee pads and sell them on ebay as a token of his service to his constituents.

Dumb twat.

I really feel sorry for you.

[geeker2]

Not to worry soon he will be the Minority Leader

[Danzig]

the last time there was a push for filibuster reform, the dems decided not to bother-they didn't want to make it terribly difficult and end up cutting off their own nose to spite their own face. both parties expand then contract, and they know that. and when they're the minority, they don't want to rue the day they screwed themselves.


i'd love to see some REAL reform for everyone. term limits, no more 'retirement' for congressmen, etc.

Originally Posted by Riot

I really feel sorry for you.

Good then I'm doing something right. You're an insufferable idiot.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

the last time there was a push for filibuster reform, the dems decided not to bother-they didn't want to make it terribly difficult and end up cutting off their own nose to spite their own face. both parties expand then contract, and they know that. and when they're the minority, they don't want to rue the day they screwed themselves.
.

The Dems have never done this to the extent the current GOP has. It's not remotely comparable.

As Reid said, he didn't do the reform previously in January because Republican minority Leader Mitch McConnell made a "gentleman's agreement" as minority leader to stop obstructing basic and necessary work of the Senate - which McConnell has repeatedly broken.

Such as not even allowing this routine matter to come to the floor for a vote. Needing 60 to bring something to the floor for a vote, when the vote counts say it will pass with 53-55 votes? That's just deliberate sabotage of our government. The Republicans should be ashamed.

There are hundreds of nationwide routine judge appointments being held up for no reason other than obstruction. The court system is backed up as a result of GOP obstruction.

I'd guess the reform will just be stopping the ability to block something from being brought to the floor for a fair discussion and vote by all the Senate members, as the GOP is doing to literally everything now.

A filibuster of final votes should still be allowed.

Opinion - Our View
Thursday, Mar. 08, 2012

Our View: Senate must stop blocking judges

Republicans standing in the way of qualified nominees help keep courts crowded, give Obama political ammo.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are once again using President Barack Obama's judicial nominations as pawns in a political chess match. There's even loose talk of putting off votes as long as possible, in hopes that Obama loses in November and the seats can be filled by a Republican president.

That's absurd. There are too many vacancies on federal courts in California and other states, where there aren't enough judges to handle the caseloads. Too often, justice delayed really is justice denied.

Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada is so fed up that he's willing to go to war to get confirmation votes on the Senate floor, Politico reports.

Good for him. The Republicans deserve to be called out on their obstructionism -- and their hypocrisy, since they often complain about how slow the federal courts are.

The focus is on 14 qualified nominees who won bipartisan support in the Senate Judiciary Committee, including two from California who were unanimously approved but have been on hold for months.

One is Jacqueline Nguyen of Los Angeles, who was nominated by Obama last September for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and endorsed by the judiciary panel Dec. 1. The first Vietnamese-American woman to serve as a federal judge, she was 10 when her family fled Vietnam at the end of the war. They started as refugees in Camp Pendleton and made their own version of the American Dream.

Another is Michael Fitzgerald, who was nominated last July for a judgeship in the Central District of California and received committee approval Nov. 3. A Los Angeles attorney and former federal prosecutor, he would become the first openly gay federal judge in the state and the fourth nationwide.

Both those courts are in an official "judicial emergency" because cases are so backed up.

It must be said that there are also political advantages for Obama if the delays continue. It would give him more ammunition to campaign against a "do-nothing Congress." Given the ways of Washington, that may be the most likely scenario.

But for those of us in the real world -- particularly those seeking justice in the federal courts -- it would be far, far better if these qualified jurists could get to work.

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/03...#storylink=cpy

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Coach Pants

Good then I'm doing something right. You're an insufferable idiot.

That your goal in life is to make people dislike you is pretty revealing. And sad. And why I feel sorry for you. Alas, I don't dislike you. Fail.