GO HARRY REID! -UNANIMOUS Senate Confirmations Part of Fiscal Cliff Deal

[kpete]

Unanimous Senate Confirmations Part of Deal
by Mokurai

At 5 PM on Wednesday, Jan. 2, Harry Reid, some other Senate Democrats and 0 Senate Republicans passed a raft of confirmations by unanimous consent, as part of a deal with Mitch McConnell to keep his caucus away while business got done. It was on C-SPAN, but reporters were all working the fiscal cliff deal, particularly the House shenanigans. Lawrence O'Donnell let the cat out of the bag on his 10 PM show, The Last Word. Don't believe me? Here, you can watch it yourself. The relevant part starts at 3:52:10.

I ASK UNANIMOUS CONSENT THE SENATE PROCEED TO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING NOMINATIONS CALENDAR NUMBERS 870, 871, 878,...

......... wonderful video of Lawrence O'Donnell tonight. It's a must-see segment about what Sen. Reid did alone on the Senate floor today, a truly beautiful thing to watch as so many Obama nominees get confirmed with 100 votes.

VIDEO: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755883/ns/msnbc-the_last_word/#50349848

“Harry Reid, who every day does much more than most people in the news media realize, and definitely accomplishes much more than the news media ever reports, pushed through pages and pages of nominations for President Obama yesterday when everyone was focused on what the House would do on the fiscal cliff vote. And Harry Reid did that with the active but invisible help of Mitch McConnell who did his part to make sure that no Republicans would vote against any of those nominations. And what did the United States Senate do today, that dysfunctional United States Senate? According to the news media, absolutely nothing.”

MORE:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/03/1175907/-Lawrence-O-Donnell-Segment-about-what-Harry-Reid-just-did

[Surya Gayatri]

1. He's unassuming and humble--but don't screw with Harry...

In Harry's honor, Carmen Miranda sings a paean...

[blueclown]

2. I remember Harry getting badmouthed by this very board

routinely over the last few years. How times have changed.

[OldDem2012]

7. It hasn't changed that much....he's still catching flak from some DU posters. nt.

[BlueCaliDem]

9. I was one of them. I was pissed that he didn't change the filibuster rule in 2011.

And I believe I was correct for calling him out on that. It would have stopped the Senate filibustering fest that followed right after for the entire year.

However, in what he has done now, I am pleased. I guess McConnell had to make up for breaking his promise to Reid only to use filibusters sparingly.

[October]

14. Agree. This video of O'Donnell is something to see!

I've never before heard Senator Reid praised. Like ever.

[Spazito]

3. It was a very good segment on O'Donnell's show...

pointing out how much of the time the Senate does it's work as it's supposed to and the media doesn't make note of that, they only cover the Senate when something controversial is about to happen or not happen.

Larry also pointed out how most of the time, many issues get dealt with quietly and unanimously. Kudos to Larry for covering this and kudos for Harry Reid for all the work he does out of the media spotlight.

[LonePirate]

4. Good for Sen. Reid. Hopefully many, many judgeships and commission seats were filled.

[JDPriestly]

5. I would prefer some changes to the filibuster rule -- like making the Republicans prove they

have 40% of the members present. I understand someone suggested that change in the rule.

[The Wielding Truth]

6. Harry Reid has more work to do today. Esp. with the filibuster rules!

[FailureToCommunicate]

8. Now THAT sounds like 3-dimensional chess!

Go Harry!



Thanks that bit of good news, kpete.

[SacoMaine61]

10. Is there a list of which nominations were confirmed? n/t

[MH1]

15. Go to Thomas.loc.gov ....

on the left select Presidential Nominations.

In the search form select 112th Congress.

Select both checkboxes for civilian and military.

For Date of Nomination select All.

Down at the bottom, under "Sort Results By", pick "Latest Action". Then click the Search button.


You will get a LONG list with each one showing it was confirmed by voice vote on Jan 2 2013 or Jan 1 2013. Some of them are for multiple nominations, for example #55 in the list I got:

55 . Nomination: PN1970-112
Nominees: One hundred and ninety-nine nominations, beginning with Philip S. Goldberg, and ending with Robert W. Weitzel; Foreign Service
Received: November 13, 2012
Referred: Senate Foreign Relations
Latest Action: January 01, 2013 - Confirmed by the Senate by Voice Vote.

Enjoy!

[mostlyconfused]

11. Wow, this is an inept group of Republicans

They cave on their principals, accept a tax increase in exchange for no spending cuts, and were so desperate to do it that they let Reid tack other things on into the bill. They were outmaneuvered in every conceivable way by Reid and Obama.

What they passed is not at all a serious effort to address the deficit....it will have little to no impact on that....but it has a big impact on further weakening he opposition party.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

12. What the hell happened to Reid's face?

[Skidmore]

13. Genius!