filibuster

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McConnell Lacks Votes for Filibuster
 McConnell Lacks  
 Votes for Filibuster 
financial reform
Apr 15, 2010 6:42 PM CDT

McConnell Lacks Votes for Filibuster

Susan Collins balks at signing his letter

(Newser) - Republican hopes of derailing the Democratic bill on financial reform appear to be in trouble. Mitch McConnell doesn't have the necessary votes for a filibuster, reports the Hill . At least one GOP senator, Susan Collins of Maine, has balked at signing a letter promising to bring proceedings to a halt....

Senate Breaks GOP's Unemployment Filibuster

Moderate Republicans break ranks to move bill past key hurdle

(Newser) - A GOP attempt to filibuster another extension of unemployment benefits failed last night after four moderate Republicans voted with the Democrats. The bill—a package of measures that includes extending benefits for another month for around 200,000 long-term unemployed—is expected to pass a final vote later this week,...

GOP Repeal Chances Little Better Than Snowball in Hell

Need big gains in Congress ... and GOP president

(Newser) - While the idea of repealing the health-reform measure passed last night has Republicans buzzing nationwide, the actual chances of it happening are tiny, Nate Silver writes. At very least, nothing happens before January 2013, and that’s if President Obama and his veto are out of office. So from there,...

Forget It, Dems: Obama's No LBJ
 Forget It, Dems: 
 Obama's No LBJ 
DANIEL HENNINGER
Mar 11, 2010 1:22 AM CST

Forget It, Dems: Obama's No LBJ

President doesn't have LBJ's deal-making skills

(Newser) - People are urging President Obama to start acting like Lyndon Johnson, but the president isn't going to suddenly turn into LBJ any more than the 2,000-page health care bill will turn into the 4-page Civil Rights Act LBJ muscled through as Senate majority leader in 1957, writes Daniel Henninger....

Schumer May Try to Rewrite Filibuster Rules

Hearings could be a sign he wants Harry Reid's job

(Newser) - Chuck Schumer plans to hold a series of Senate Rules Committee hearings to examine possible reforms to the filibuster rules so frustrating Democrats. Schumer, the committee’s chair, hatched the plan with senators Tom Udall and Carl Levin. In the first hearing, Senate historians will testify as to how the...

Jim Bunning: Why I Dug In

 Jim Bunning: 
 Why I Dug In 

opinion
Mar 4, 2010 1:58 PM CST

Jim Bunning: Why I Dug In

He says 'enough is enough' about Democrats' spending

(Newser) - Jim Bunning is unapologetic about his one-man stand on Capitol Hill. He doesn't object to jobless benefits, he writes, but to Democrats breaking their own rules about passing bills without paying for them. "Many people asked me, 'Why now?' My answer is, 'Why not now?' Why can't a non-controversial...

Don't Lie, GOP: Dems Aren't Ramming Through Health Bill

'It's good to see Obama displaying LBJ's wiles'

(Newser) - The Republicans' claim that the Democrats are using reconciliation to ram through a health care bill is a flat-out lie at worst and stunning hypocrisy at best, writes E.J. Dionne Jr. The health-care bill has already passed the Senate with 60 votes, and the only thing that would pass...

Obama Will OK Use of Reconciliation on Health Bill

Wants GOP help but will do what's needed

(Newser) - President Obama will tell Democrats tomorrow to use reconciliation to get health-care reform passed if Senate Republicans won’t cooperate, White House sources tell ABC News tonight. That option would allow a previously passed bill to be “fixed” with 51 votes (which the Democrats have) and not a filibuster-proof...

Bunning Filibuster Puts 2,000 Fed Workers on Furlough

Dept of Transportation workers placed on unpaid furlough

(Newser) - The Department of Transportation furloughed 2,000 workers without pay today, thanks to a filibuster from Republican Sen. Jim Bunning. Democrat and Republican leaders had agreed to pass a one-month extension of several standard federal programs, such as unemployment benefits, by unanimous consent, a process that makes voting unnecessary. Bunning’...

Score One for Jim Bunning
Score One for Jim Bunning
ANALYSIS
Feb 26, 2010 9:35 PM CST

Score One for Jim Bunning

Solo filibuster works: Senate Dems adjourn without extending jobless benefits

(Newser) - Republican Jim Bunning’s one-man filibuster, intended to force Democrats to account for the money that would extend by 30 days unemployment benefits for 1.2 million, looks to have worked, with the Senate adjourning for the weekend without passing the extension. Jobless and COBRA payments thus expire Sunday, Chris...

Bunning Hijacks Senate With Jobless Filibuster

'I'm trying to make a point to the people of the United States'

(Newser) - Jim Bunning held the Senate hostage last night, filibustering a move to extend federal unemployment benefits, which will otherwise expire on Sunday, for 30 days. The clash lasted until just before midnight, with Bunning complaining that Democrats had forced him to miss the Kentucky-South Carolina basketball game. But “I'll...

Showdown Looms as Abused Filibuster Frays Senate Tempers

GOB blocks routine nomination, has Dems eying reform options

(Newser) - Last night's GOP filibuster of a routine nomination to the National Labor Relation Board left Democrats livid, and considering reforms to stop a filibuster-happy GOP from crippling the Senate. "I'm in my thirty-sixth year. I've never seen anything like it," Sen. Pat Leahy told the Huffington Post . Leahy...

Mighty America Descends Into Farce
Mighty America Descends
Into Farce
PAUL KRUGMAN
Feb 8, 2010 8:20 AM CST

Mighty America Descends Into Farce

Paralyzing GOP tactics make us look like 18th-century Poland

(Newser) - When Richard Shelby put a hold on all outstanding Obama nominees last week, it reminded Paul Krugman of 18th-century Poland. Back then, the country’s legislature was run by unanimous consent, so anyone could block any legislation by shouting, “I do not allow!” Sound familiar? The US Senate,...

Patrick Kennedy Slams Scott Brown

Ted Kennedy's son calls successor's candidacy a 'joke'

(Newser) - Scott Brown sped up his swearing-in because despite having touted his independence during his Senate campaign, "he's in the tank for the Republicans," says Patrick Kennedy, predecessor Ted Kennedy's son. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island congressman, says Brown suddenly demanded to be seated a week earlier than previously...

Obama Must Use 'Shame,' GOP's 'Sketchy Bladders'

Democrats should make GOP pay for being obstructionists

(Newser) - With bipartisanship dead and Republicans in love with the filibuster, Barack Obama has few weapons. Marc Ambinder surveys the landscape and comes up with a measly two—shame and the "sketchy bladders" of old white Republicans. First, Obama must "shame Republicans. Increase the costs of not doing business"...

Obama to Democrats: 'We Still Have to Lead'

President reminds senators they still have a big majority

(Newser) - President Obama implored Senate Democrats today to stay aggressive in pushing their agenda despite the loss of one vital seat, saying: "We still have to lead." Speaking to his party's senators at their strategy conference, Obama reminded Democrats they still hold a 59-41 majority. For Democrats searching for...

GOP Filibusters Routine Obama Nomination

All 60 Senate Dems needed to confirm Labor Department solicitor general

(Newser) - It took all 60 Senate Democrats yesterday to break a filibuster over the confirmation of a fairly run-of-the-mill mid-level Obama appointee. New York Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith is hardly a liberal radical—she has support from her state’s Chamber of Commerce, and several New York Republicans in the House—...

Udall Launches New Assault on Filibuster

Proposes law allowing Senate to regularly change rules

(Newser) - New Mexico Democrat Tom Udall has introduced a resolution that could, in the unlikely event that it passes, eliminate the Senate’s dreaded filibuster. Udall’s law doesn’t specifically end the filibuster; rather, it calls for the Senate to change its rules every two years based on a simple...

ND Sen. Dorgan Won't Run for Re-Election

Term is up this year; move a 'total stunner' to fellow Democrats

(Newser) - In a move one Democratic aide called a “total stunner,” North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan announced today that he won’t run for re-election this fall. Dorgan, 68, says “this decision does not relate to any dissatisfaction that I have about serving in the Senate,” and...

Reid Will Force Senate Vote on TSA Nominee

Sen. DeMint blocking transportation chief over unionization

(Newser) - Harry Reid plans a parliamentary move of his own to break Jim DeMint's hold on the nominee to run the Transportation Security Administration. When the Senate returns the week of Jan. 19, Reid will hold a vote to end DeMint's filibuster on the nomination of Erroll Southers, reports Talking Points...

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