US Senate passes nuclear option

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ghoti
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21 Nov 2013, 3:25 pm

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/ ... z2lJVgFJiI

Kills the filibuster for all presidential nominations excluding the supreme court.

Murihiku
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21 Nov 2013, 5:10 pm

So it's finally happened.

Good for them, I say. Filibusters are annoying obstruction tactics. And these days Republican senators weren't even bothering to come up with salient reasons for obstructing judiciary nominations. The political gridlock in the US Congress is raising eyebrows across the world. Hopefully more will get done in the Senate, now. If only the House would follow suit.

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pete1061
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21 Nov 2013, 6:13 pm

"nuclear option" doesn't explain much to me. Surely the media can use a better phrase.

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ghoti
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21 Nov 2013, 7:58 pm

^^ Sen Trent Lott first used that term in 2003 during negotiations, trying to blackmail legislation through without a supermajority. Nuclear means blowing up procedural rules by a simple majority of votes.

Dox47
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22 Nov 2013, 1:34 am

I suspect this will come back to bite various asses when the levers of power change hands again.

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DevilInPgh
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22 Nov 2013, 2:05 am

Dox47 wrote:

I suspect this will come back to bite various asses when the levers of power change hands again.

I don't think they care. I think they're tired of the senseless stalling, like the Republicans did to Ari.

DarkRain
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22 Nov 2013, 11:05 am

I look forward to the day when the Democrats are on the receiving end of the nuclear option. Their temper tantrums will be epic and quite hilarious.

sonofghandi
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22 Nov 2013, 12:44 pm

This is not surprising in the least.

Quote:

since the Senate created the filibuster rule in 1917, there have been 168 filibusters of executive and judicial nominees — and half of them have taken place during the Obama years.

...
At the moment, for instance, Obama has 51 judicial nominees pending. In comparison, at this point in the George W. Bush administration, there were 19 pending judicial nominations.

...
At a similar point in the one term of President George H.W. Bush, there were 26 federal court nominees pending. And in the Reagan administration, 20 pending nominees.

...
Uncontroversial federal trial court nominees in the Reagan administration, for example, took an average of 69 days to win confirmation. A similar District Court nominee has taken on average 204 days in the Obama administration. Indeed, even Obama judicial nominees who are eventually confirmed by huge majorities, or even unanimous votes, have consistently faced a slow-walk that can last a year or two.

...
A final benefit is that he will be able to start filling the judicial pipeline with judges who he might pick if he gets another Supreme Court vacancy. While Republican presidents have been successful at planting their most brilliant judicial seeds on the bench, Obama has been repeatedly blocked. Now he has his chance.

reference - link

Just some more info for those of you who haven't yet realized how much the current Republicans have been trying to slow down/stop congress from doing its freaking job just so they can blame it on the Dems come election time.

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Jacoby
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22 Nov 2013, 12:54 pm

The shoe will be on the other foot one day, it's looking sooner rather than later too. They set the precedence and next up is legislation and SC nominees. The democrats have doubled down on partisanship. We live in the era of the imperial presidency.

The fact you can change procedural rules in the senate by majority vote is a joke by the way

sonofghandi
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22 Nov 2013, 1:14 pm

Jacoby wrote:

You do realize that it was the Republicans who first threatened the "nuclear option" back when W was in office, don't you? You do realize that half of the filibusters of nominees in the last 100 years have happened with the current administration, don't you?

The Democrats are well aware of the fact that they will be unhappy about this when they are in the minority, which was part of the reason that several voted against it. The majority of the Democrats are just sick of the fact that a handful of malcontents can hold the entire Senate hostage for as long as they want without so much as even a flimsy excuse. They are just sick of showing up to work and not being able to do their jobs.

Personally, I think it is ridiculous that this was ever allowed in the first place.

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sonofghandi
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22 Nov 2013, 1:15 pm

Jacoby wrote:

The fact you can change procedural rules in the senate by majority vote is a joke by the way

There are only certain types of rules where this is an option.

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