The Washington Post "The partisan battles that have paralyzed Washington in recent years took a historic turn Thursday, as Senate Democrats eliminated filibusters for most presidential nominations, severely curtailing the political leverage of the Republican minority in the Senate and assuring an escalation of partisan warfare.
...."The change does not apply to Supreme Court nominations. But the vote, mostly along party lines, reverses nearly 225 years of precedent and dramatically alters the landscape for both Democratic and Republican presidents, especially if their own political party holds a majority of, but fewer than 60, Senate seats." Emphasis mine, TD
Nuclear Option Watch (Update – BOOM!) Democrats can gloat again after giving us Obamacare; why are so few Americans educated to understand what Democrats have done to this nation?
What is the nuclear option?
The “nuclear option” refers to a move by the majority party in Senate — in this case the Democrats — to change the Senate rules to allow most executive branch and judicial nominations to be approved with a simple majority – 51 votes — rather than the 60 votes now required. Under the current rules, the minority party can block a nomination with just 41 votes, commonly called a filibuster.
When Democrats Hated and FEARED The Filibuster "Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell traded barbs today over changes to the filibuster rule, but in 2005 Democrats attacked the so called “nuclear option,” a change to prohibit the filibustering of judicial nominees, charging that it would decimate Senate traditions."
Listen to Obama and other Democrats oppose this nuclear option back in 2005. "Notice they call it a power grab".
That was then, this is now: Obama supports Senate's nuclear option, rule change
March 6, 2005 New York Times condemns the "nuclear option" "If Republicans fulfill their threat to overturn the historic role of the filibuster in order to ram the Bush administration's nominees through, they will be inviting all-out warfare and perhaps an effective shutdown of Congress."
Harry Reid’s Nuclear Hypocrisy "The hypocrisy here should not go unnoticed. Although the filibuster for legislation has a long history, prior to 2003 it was seldom used to block executive-branch nominations — and appellate-court nominees in particular. In fact, Democrats themselves began using it this way in the 108th Congress, after they lost the Senate in the 2002 midterm elections. Here’s the backstory...."
NRO: “ 'In my view this is the most important and most dangerous restructuring of Senate rules since Thomas Jefferson wrote them at the beginning of our country,” Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says."
Hypocritical Dems Think They’ll Always Rule Well, considering the third-world electorate which chose for a president a man who had never administered a government of any size and had questionable leftist mentors, it can happen.
"... Reid finally has amassed enough votes to ram through changes in the upper body’s time-honored rules and allow President Obama to pack the Court of Appeals with as many liberals as he likes. He claims they are acting in the name of civility and the need to keep the government working, but there should be no doubt that what is going on here is a hypocritical grab for power that should be stopped." This cartoonist supports Reid:
Three - count 'em -three Democrats opposed Reid on this
There were three Democratic defectors — Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — on the rules change, which came to the floor over the block of three judges intended for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
...."The change does not apply to Supreme Court nominations. But the vote, mostly along party lines, reverses nearly 225 years of precedent and dramatically alters the landscape for both Democratic and Republican presidents, especially if their own political party holds a majority of, but fewer than 60, Senate seats." Emphasis mine, TD
Nuclear Option Watch (Update – BOOM!) Democrats can gloat again after giving us Obamacare; why are so few Americans educated to understand what Democrats have done to this nation?
The “nuclear option” refers to a move by the majority party in Senate — in this case the Democrats — to change the Senate rules to allow most executive branch and judicial nominations to be approved with a simple majority – 51 votes — rather than the 60 votes now required. Under the current rules, the minority party can block a nomination with just 41 votes, commonly called a filibuster.
When Democrats Hated and FEARED The Filibuster "Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell traded barbs today over changes to the filibuster rule, but in 2005 Democrats attacked the so called “nuclear option,” a change to prohibit the filibustering of judicial nominees, charging that it would decimate Senate traditions."
Listen to Obama and other Democrats oppose this nuclear option back in 2005. "Notice they call it a power grab".
That was then, this is now: Obama supports Senate's nuclear option, rule change
March 6, 2005 New York Times condemns the "nuclear option" "If Republicans fulfill their threat to overturn the historic role of the filibuster in order to ram the Bush administration's nominees through, they will be inviting all-out warfare and perhaps an effective shutdown of Congress."
Harry Reid’s Nuclear Hypocrisy "The hypocrisy here should not go unnoticed. Although the filibuster for legislation has a long history, prior to 2003 it was seldom used to block executive-branch nominations — and appellate-court nominees in particular. In fact, Democrats themselves began using it this way in the 108th Congress, after they lost the Senate in the 2002 midterm elections. Here’s the backstory...."
Hypocritical Dems Think They’ll Always Rule Well, considering the third-world electorate which chose for a president a man who had never administered a government of any size and had questionable leftist mentors, it can happen.
"... Reid finally has amassed enough votes to ram through changes in the upper body’s time-honored rules and allow President Obama to pack the Court of Appeals with as many liberals as he likes. He claims they are acting in the name of civility and the need to keep the government working, but there should be no doubt that what is going on here is a hypocritical grab for power that should be stopped." This cartoonist supports Reid:
Three - count 'em -three Democrats opposed Reid on this
There were three Democratic defectors — Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — on the rules change, which came to the floor over the block of three judges intended for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Levin said he was being consistent with his previous opposition when a Republican majority flirted with the nuclear option in 2005.
....Levin said ... “The nuclear option abandons America’s sense of fair play. It’s the one thing this country stands for. Not tilting the playing field on the side of those who control and own the field.”
March 2012 Op-Ed: Senator Mike Lee: Senate has ‘confirmed more than 80 percent of President Obama’s judicial nominees’ "Claims of Republican obstruction are not only demonstrably false, they are highly hypocritical. The very Democrats now seeking to manufacture confirmation controversy personally devised and carried out a systematic effort to block President Bush’s judicial nominees through an unprecedented use of the Senate filibuster."
Forbes has the opposite take: GOP Gambles Big On Harry Reid's Nuclear Option: Why Not Just explode The Filibuster For Good?
"Interestingly, while suggestions along these lines have traditionally led to outrage and consternation by the minority party in the Senate, this time it appears to be a different story. Indeed, the Republicans seem oddly and calmly resigned to letting it all happen.
Forbes has the opposite take: GOP Gambles Big On Harry Reid's Nuclear Option: Why Not Just explode The Filibuster For Good?
"Interestingly, while suggestions along these lines have traditionally led to outrage and consternation by the minority party in the Senate, this time it appears to be a different story. Indeed, the Republicans seem oddly and calmly resigned to letting it all happen.
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