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And the tyranny begins

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  • And the tyranny begins

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he will try to push through a change to Senate rules that would limit the GOP’s ability to filibuster bills.


    Reid moves to limit GOP filibusters

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he will try to push through a change to Senate rules that would limit the GOP’s ability to filibuster bills.

    Speaking in the wake of Tuesday’s election, which boosted Senate Democrats’ numbers slightly, Mr. Reid said he won’t end filibusters altogether but that the rules need to change so that the minority party cannot use the legislative blocking tool as often.

    “I think that the rules have been abused and that we’re going to work to change them,” he told reporters. “Were not going to do away with the filibuster but we’re going to make the Senate a more meaningful place.”

    Republicans, who have 47 of the chamber’s 100 seats in this current Congress, have repeatedly used that strong minority to block parts of President Obama’s agenda on everything from added stimulus spending to his judicial picks.

    A filibuster takes 60 senators to overcome it.

    Leaders of both parties have been reluctant to change the rules because they value it as a tool when they are in the minority.

    But Mr. Reid said things changed over the last few years when he repeatedly faced off against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, who had said his chief political goal was defeating Mr. Obama. Mr. Reid said that led the GOP to abuse the filibuster.

    He did not say what changes he would support, though colleagues of his have proposed several potential changes.

    One leading option would eliminate the chance to filibuster bringing a bill to the floor, though it would still let a minority filibuster actual passage. That proposal would also limit the number of amendments allowed by each side.

    Senate Republicans, though, said the real problem is that Mr. Reid too often tries to limit the amendments they can offer to bills on the Senate floor. Left without the chance to debate their own priorities, the GOP sees little option but to filibuster.

    After Mr. Reid’s comments Wednesday, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Mr. McConnell, said Democrats would set a bad tone for next year.

    “We hope Democrats will work toward allowing members of both sides to be involved in the legislative process — rather than poisoning the well on the very first day of the next Congress,” Mr. Stewart said. “And that Sen. Reid will honor his public commitment to do rules changes only through the regular order.”

    Still, there’s likely to be pressure for some changes, particularly from newly-elected members of the chamber.

    Sen.-elect Angus King, an independent who won Maine’s open Senate seat, also took aim at filibusters during his campaign, saying the 60-vote threshold for legislation to see Senate action is not part of the Constitution.

    Indeed, the founding document does not establish a supermajority for most legislation, but it does give each chamber the power to write its own rules, and the Senate has adopted the 60-vote threshold as a debating technique, not a threshold for passage — though that’s often what it becomes.

    If the Democrats can't convince the voters to give them a super majority, they'll just change the rules to do it anyway.
    Last edited by CJ; 11-07-2012, 07:24 PM.
    "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." -Benjamin Franklin
    "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury." -Alexander Fraser Tytler

  • #2
    Where's the reset button?
    2004 Suzuki DL650
    1996 Hy-Tek Hurricane 103

    Comment


    • #3
      Fuck him. He's a vicious transvestite and I hope he roasts in hell

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Downs View Post
        Where's the reset button?
        Right here...

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        • #5
          Great, change it and then by 2015 they will be bitching to get it back...

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          • #6
            wow, locking this thing up at this point might have been the only move that could have held back more far left policy. Government that governs least, governs best and all that.

            Comment


            • #7
              I firmly believe that Reid will go the way of David Carradine.
              Originally posted by PGreenCobra
              I can't get over the fact that you get to go live the rest of your life, knowing that someone made a Halloween costume out of you. LMAO!!
              Originally posted by Trip McNeely
              Originally posted by dsrtuckteezy
              dont downshift!!
              Go do a whooly in front of a Peterbilt.

              Comment


              • #8
                autoerotic asphyxiation ?

                Comment


                • #9
                  auto-erotic asphyxiation?
                  2004 Suzuki DL650
                  1996 Hy-Tek Hurricane 103

                  Comment

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