Filibuster

If Dems Willing To Filibuster Gorsuch, 'it’s Obvious They Would Filibuster Anybody

... Monday by Fox News, Grassley criticized Democrats after dozens of the party's senators said they plan to vote against the President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. "It was just a year ago when we first began hearing chants of 'we need nine,' from former President Obama and Vice President Biden, Senate Democrats and their special interest groups," Grassley wrote. "To many of us, it appeared to be a simple case of amnesia. They obviously had simply forgotten that both Senator Reid and Senator Schumer had declared that George W. Bush would get no Supreme Court nominees through the Democratic Senate more than 18 months before the end of his term.". But Trump's win changed Democrats' rhetoric, Grassley wrote. "To the surprise of many Senate Democrats, in November the American people elected Donald Trump. Donald Trump Ivanka Trump’s rent costs K monthly: report White House will preserve all of Trump's tweets: reports Larry King: Trump among ‘most ridiculous’ presidents MORE ...

Nebraska Lawmakers Ok 'choose Life' License Plates After Chambers' Filibuster Fails

... Gov. Pete Ricketts and Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, as well as the Nebraska Family Alliance, the Nebraska Catholic Conference and Choose Life Nebraska, but opposition from Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and a number of abortion rights supporters. The new plates would add to the rapidly expanding variety of license plates available in Nebraska. A number of other states offer versions of a Choose Life plate. Two years ago, Living Word Ministries, an anti-abortion group, attempted to gather enough applications to create a Choose Life organizational plate. State law allows nonprofit groups that follow certain guidelines to get specialized license plates by collecting 250 prepaid applications for the plates. Examples of such plates include the Union Pacific Railroad plates, Creighton University plates and ...

Eliminate The Budget Filibuster Rules First

... budget items which automatically include spending increases. Congress sees that any change is verboten. Second are the discretionary spending items which are everything else the government does.  In effect, these are also automatic. On the rare occasion there is a change in a spending program, it is merely for propaganda purposes and has no meaningful impact. These non-discretionary and discretionary spending items together form what is referred to as the budget. Right now, it is about $3.7 trillion. But, there is the third basket of spending which is off-budget. This is the spending where the Congress wants to give the illusion that they are not spending money when they are. This is done by getting non-government entities to provide loans with the government providing the guarantee of payment. This way Congress can continue the subterfuge that the debt of the government is $20 trillion when it’s more like $60 trillion. No doubt some public policy think-tank has a more accurate computation of this. ...

Dems Would Never Filibuster Republicans’ Nominee

... if you guys do this, then when we get back in power, we're just going to confirm another Scalia,'" he recounted. "And I realized, yeah, of course you are, because Scalia got 98 votes in the Senate," he continued. "The Democrats voted for Scalia, they did not filibuster Scalia.". In another interview with the Washington Post‘s Jonathan Capehart a week earlier  in November 2013, the two men agreed that Democrats should weaken the filibuster because Republicans had no chance of winning the presidency in 2016. "The likelihood of there being a Republican president is very, very, very, very slim," Capehart said. "Given what Republicans are doing now: angering, pissing off so many constituents.". "They will need to win the White House. The idea of a Republican president nominating another Thomas or another Scalia is–what's the word I am looking for–next to nothing," he ...

Let's Just Scrap The Filibuster And Keep It Simple

... presidency. The rationale for this deal is that since Gorsuch is just replacing the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, the ideological balance of the court will not be fundamentally changed with Gorsuch's addition. Justice Anthony Kennedy continues to be the swing vote in what is now viewed as a 4-4 split between liberals and conservatives. Since the nominee for the next vacancy will determine the ideological future of the court, the "deal" allows the higher standard of the filibuster for such a momentous vote. But we should reject this deal and the rationale behind it. Each party's hands are not clean in this entire process. Harry Reid Dems force Senate 'nuclear' showdown Dems reach magic number to block Supreme Court nominee A time for congressional term limits MORE (D-Nev.) did away with the filibuster because he wanted to fill federal judge vacancies (especially circuit court openings) that were being stalled by the Republican minority. The move was brazenly opportunistic and totally partisan. Quite simply, Reid wanted ...

Democrats Have Enough Votes To Filibuster Gorsuch

... rule it out.". Our thought bubble: There's a clear appetite for price and network transparency in health care especially as high deductibles, both for employer-based coverage and Obamacare plans in the individual market, aren't going away. But there's a limit to shopping in health care, as many studies have shown. If your appendix explodes or you have a heart attack, you won't have time to rush to a transparency website to find the best deal or the quality ratings of a surgeon. Other transparency companies, like Castlight Health, also have struggled to catch on. They're sending a message that we have capabilities and that you are not the only player in town. NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett called it the cyber version of "hand-to-hand combat.". 2. Newfound aggression: In 2014 the hackers stopped backing down when they knew they were being detected. Before that, as Kevin Mandia, Chief Executive ...

How Harry Reid And His 'little Sister' Barbara Boxer Saved The Filibuster For The Supreme Court In 2013

... “OK.”. Relationships matter - or used to - in the Senate. Progressives across the country were not happy but “The Reid-Boxer Compromise” to “nuke” only executive appointments and lower court judges passes by a 52-48 vote with Carl Levin, Mark Pryor and still serving Joe Manchin joining the 45 Republicans in voting no. “History will not look kindly on the Republicans if they nuke the filibuster for The Supreme Court,” Boxer said. “There is a huge, huge difference between The Supreme Court and every other Federal Court. They are the final say in America.”. But with at least 41 Democratic filibuster votes now confirmed, Senate Republicans, on Friday, will have the final say about doing what Reid and Boxer were not willing to do to force Neil Gorsuch onto the highest Court for 30 or 40 years. “It has to ...

Sen. Hirono On Support For Democratic Filibuster On Gorsuch Nomination

... That would be an unfortunate result. And nobody is forcing Mc Connell to go that route. But he is a very determined person, and he wants what he wants. And he's the person who unilaterally also said that there will be no hearing for Merrick Garland. That was unprecedented. SIEGEL: Of course, Republicans say that Senator Harry Reid, when he was leading the Democrats, also decided to have judges approved without a right to filibuster, and therefore that the Democrats have been involved in this process as much as the Republicans. HIRONO: Well, I must say the Republicans are really great at pointing fingers. And we're not the ones who said unilaterally that there will be absolutely no process for Judge Garland. SIEGEL: But in taking part in the filibuster, do you have any reasonable expectation that Judge Gorsuch will not be ...