How can it possibly be bad to have mechanisms in place that slow down Congress? In the 111th Congress, there were 4059 bills introduced in the Senate, and 6561 bills introduced in the House – resulting in 342 laws enacted. In the 110th Congress, there were 3741 bills introduced in the Senate, and 7336 bills introduced in the House – resulting in 460 laws enacted. | Read More »
“One enterprising Senator can blow the whole thing up by threatening to object to every unanimous consent over the next two years.” Within the next 24 hours, liberal senators will try to kill the filibuster. Many of the senators who will support killing the filibuster were its most ardent supporters when the Republicans controlled the White House and Senate. My how times change. Here’s what | Read More »
Progressives, liberals and left of center politicians have teamed up to radically curtail the rights of Republican Senators in the next Congress. They have a plan to “kill the filibuster,” so that they can establish a top down system of control next year in the Senate. This plan to kill the filibuster will stifle dissent and relegate Republican Senators to observer status in the newly reformed Senate. | Read More »
Senate Democrats are going to be working over the Christmas break to deliver a lump of coal to the American people in the form of a radical changing of the Senate’s rules. This is a naked power grab by liberals in the Senate pure and simple. The National Journal reports that Senate Democrats are laying the groundwork to chip away at the filibuster on January 5, | Read More »
President Obama and Senate Democrats have recently floated the idea that it’s time to get rid of the filibuster. So the argument goes, the filibuster is an anti-democratic obstacle that prevents good government and rule by the will of the people. It’s a valid point. Come to think of it, the Senate is chock-full of anti-democratic anachronisms. First off, two senators represent each state, regardless | Read More »
Liberals want to do away with the filibuster, in the name of “Filibuster Reform,” so they can have complete control over the Senate agenda in the next Congress. Before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took over his position as the most powerful member of the Senate, he was against filibuster reform. Now he is for it. The fight for so called Filibuster Reform is merely | Read More »
Let’s set the (somewhat stylized) scenario, here: The Senate on January 5, 2011 – as per the apparent wishes of Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico and Tom Harkin of Iowa, neither of whom are up for reelection in 2012 – votes to change the rules so that a simple majority may short-circuit the filibuster. Cheers and applause from the progressives; silence from the Republicans. | Read More »
Liberal Democrats are going to take a run at the Filibuster in January. The have adopted idea that the Senate is not a continuing body and that the rules can be changed with a simple majority of Senators voting in a new Congress, in January, to adopt new rules. This interpretation of the Senate rules ignores the clear rules of the Senate and long tradition | Read More »
Retiring Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) gave his farewell speech on the Senate floor yesterday and he reiterated his opposition to filibuster reform. Dodd, as quoted by The Hill, said yesterday: I can understand the temptation to change the rules that make the Senate so unique — and, simultaneously, so frustrating. The Senate was designed to be different, not simply for the sake of variety, but because | Read More »
Less than a week after being sent back to the Senate after a 10-year absence, 67 year-old former Senator / DC lobbyist / Senator-elect Dan Coats apparently feels that it is critical to launch his new tenure with an assault on the filibuster. Hmmm… Way to signal to the world that the establishment got it right in convincing you to run, and that you are | Read More »
President Obama was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night and attacked the filibuster not once, but twice. It is funny that the President was one of many liberal Democrat Senators who fought to protect the filibuster in 2005. The filibuster is contained in the Senate Rules (Rule 22) and merely protects the right of extended debate by Senators before a final vote | Read More »
Yesterday, in the Washington Post, Ezra Klein argued for Democrat Senators to use their power to abolish the filibuster. Ironically, Ezra Klein in 2005 argued that the same tactic when used by Republicans was a “power grab” and an abuse of power. Place Klein’s Washington Post column of 2010 next to the Klein column of 2005 and one might conclude that Klein is a partisan hack. | Read More »
Back in 2005, when the GOP kept getting frustrated by Democrat filibusters, the GOP came up with what they called the “constitutional option” to end the filibuster. Democrats and the media referred to it as the “nuclear option.” Well, fast forward to today and lefty Ezra Klein is all in favor of the constitutional option.*
Before hearings even start on Elena Kagan, Jon Kyl is declaring surrender. The number two Republican in the Senate says the GOP will not filibuster Kagan. Why give up the card early? Why signal to the base that there will be no fight? The Senate GOP can say there will be a fight, but if they are giving up their ultimate weapon early, a lot | Read More »
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