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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsReid gives GOP 36 hours to negotiate filibuster reform-OR-he will move forward with nuclear option
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is giving Republican colleagues 36 hours to agree to a deal on filibuster reform or he will move forward with the nuclear option.
I hope in the next 24, 36 hours we can get something we agree on. If not, were going to move forward on what I think needs to be done, Reid told reporters.
Reids trump card in negotiations with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is the threat he will change Senate rules with a simple majority vote, a tactic known as the nuclear option. This maneuver would allow Reid to change the Senate rules with a simple majority vote, something that has never been done, according to parliamentary experts.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/278591-reid-to-goip-36-hours-for-filibuster-deal-or-nuclear-option
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/22/1181243/-Reid-gives-GOP-36-hours-to-negotiate-filibuster-nbsp-reform
Hekate
(90,189 posts)Move on it while they're still reeling.
madokie
(51,076 posts)don't let the bastards up for air. They've been screwing the rest of us (99%) for a long time now and I for one am getting pretty damn tired of it.
wake.up.america
(3,334 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)trof
(54,255 posts)Eff 'em!
Let's Move.....forward!
longship
(40,416 posts)Everybody run around like our hair is on fire!!!!!
Sorry. Calm down everybody. We need to trust Harry Reid. He's got this. If I am wrong, I will gladly eat a suitable serving of crow.
But please. You only get to criticize the Senate Leader after the fact. Before the fact does nothing but set your hair on fire.
If you disagree, I suspect that you know the Senate phone numbers. Tell them; not DU.
You know what to do.
Call the Senators and tell them what you think, with passion, but politely.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)if he fixes this, though, then just pass the crow my way.
longship
(40,416 posts)Then, which ever way it works out there will be no crow on the menu for anybody.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)bluestate10
(10,942 posts)doesn't shine. I am tired of those anti-american, stalling bastards.
pediatricmedic
(397 posts)Looking at the 97th Congress and on, their is a lot of swapping on who has the majority.
This might be a two edged sword that can cut both ways.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)will use it whether we do or not.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)The PUKES will use whatever slimely tactics they want to should they regain the majority which I hope they never do, no matter what our side votes to do about the fillibuster now.
theKed
(1,235 posts)isn't removing the filibuster. the "nuclear option", in this case, is pushing forward with filibuster reform - whatever shape that might take - regardless of the republican desires otherwise. He's giving them a chance to save face and be part of the solution...they have 36 hours to choose that option. After that, the democrats do what they want to, to reform the filibuster - anything from requiring people to do an actual filibuster to removing the option entirely.
The only danger is in setting precedent. If we remove the option, there's no reason a republican senate couldn't reinstate it if they get 51 seats. Or change it any way they want, once they have a majority.
NYC Liberal
(20,132 posts)able to do what they do either.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Then THEY are the ones to look like asses if they put it back.
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)with a simple majority vote. I believe it takes a 67-vote supermajority to change rules at any other time.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Blue Idaho
(4,987 posts)Regardless of the party employing the tactic.
stultusporcos
(327 posts)BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)It will have to pass entirely with Dem votes, so why not just pass the plan that we think is necessary to reduce the GOP abuses?
Or at minimum, Reid should make it clear there will be no concessions unless McConnell can guarantee a strong bipartisan vote in favor of the changes. This idea of negotiating with Republicans and then letting then not support the compromise is BS.
NYC Liberal
(20,132 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)Go Yankees !
rocktivity
(44,555 posts)WHY deal? Just do it.
rocktivity
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)I used to be a Republican and hardcore Limbaugh conservative. I am not ashamed, I was young and ignorant. Anyway...
I used to live in Reno, Nevada. There was a local conservative talk show host on in the afternoons (Rusty Humphries). Anyway, he went on vacation and offered Harry Reid the chance to host his show. I had to tune in for that, I mean this was going to finally be the TRUE CONSERVATIVE PATRIOT'S chance to demand some answers from that ignorant commie Harry Reid. And bear in mind, for conservatives in Nevada, Harry Reid is one rung below Lucifer on the evil scale.
So Harry Reid takes over the show. Every day. Three hours a day. Unscreened and unscripted calls. He was so freaking smart he blew my mind. He blew everyone's mind. At that time I didn't agree with him, but he damn sure offered something to think about. He EARNED my respect -- and remember I was a hardcore dittohead.
So then came the next incident.
I was and am something of an astronomy buff. I heard through the grapevine that NASA was killing funding for the Hubble. So I wrote to both my Senators (one Republican, and one that damn commie Harry Reid).
I got a letter from Harry Reid a week later -- or from a staffer anyway. It was quite short. He said that Reid went to Nasa, and Nasa was reversing their position and would continue to fund the Hubble. And they did. Wrote a letter, got results, boom.
My GOP Senator, my guy, he wrote back as well. He wrote me back a YEAR later. He never mentioned my question, he simply thanked me for my interest in government, warned me about the menace of liberalism, and asked me for money. What a worthless tool.
Anyway, ever since I have been a Harry Reid supporter.
tblue37
(64,979 posts)dark side.
I hope that since your conversion you have been working to help your still conservative friends and family to see the light. They won't listen to "commies" they don't know, but someone like you might have at least some chance of getting through to them.
think
(11,641 posts)kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Half are hardcore conservatives, and the others are hardcore liberals. go figure.
My dad was military but he was liberal. And he came from Baker, out in Snake Valley by GBNP.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)lpbk2713
(42,696 posts)Time for Harry to say my way or the highway.
WTG Harry.
Matariki
(18,775 posts)isn't quite as hard-line as "giving them 36 hours". But we'll see. Hoping for the best...
Marr
(20,317 posts)I don't have a lot of faith in Captain Castrato.
nyquil_man
(1,443 posts)Gotta bust their chops.
putitinD
(1,551 posts)ellisonz
(27,709 posts)It's good enough for this Senate.
Zambero
(8,954 posts)Order up!
libtodeath
(2,888 posts)Texin
(2,585 posts)I'm sick of the repukes bullshit too. More than sick of their obstructionism. But the things that are happening in some of the states with gerrymandering congressional districts to ensure permanent (at least until the 2020 Census anyway) repuke rule, and then beginning their efforts to change the Electoral College by using the gerrymandered-won seats to allocate EC outcome based on the number number of seats held by the respective parties, has ominous implications for Democrats going forward. If the repukes regain the WH in 2016 (which statistically is likely even without the vote rigging going on in the states), the Dems would then face the same set of consequences that they are trying (justifiably) to do with filibuster reform. They won't be able to successfully block senate action through the filibuster process in future and the resulting outcome won't be pretty.
That said, they should proceed. But what goes around comes around.
former9thward
(31,800 posts)If he has the votes then "for what needs to be done" then take the vote and be done with it.
DallasNE
(7,392 posts)Because that one amendment would be a poison pill that would effectively kill the legislation and could make matters even worse.
I have yet to hear an argument against the talking filibuster -- just general opposition against any kind of reform. Congress only works about 120 days a year so the not-in-session time is a form of filibuster because nothing gets done.
Don't underestimate the ability of the Senate to make a worse mess of things -- even worse than what already exists. While our Founding Fathers wanted the Senate to be the more deliberative body they left it up to the bodies to set their own rules. The filibuster rule is relatively new to the Senate as they operated for years without it. My guess is that the issue of slavery is what lead the Senate to adopt this rule but it still didn't stop the secessionist movement. It has never led to the greater good -- only evil, so who needs it. If it is to be kept at all at least make it be a talking filibuster.
spanone
(135,631 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)He is doing great as a stand in. Hope Harry is alright!
Pennsy1638
(4 posts)This is the first time in four years I have heard those two words spoken. Why haven't the democrats touch or used that in such a long tim.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)srican69
(1,426 posts)mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)earthside
(6,960 posts)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/filibuster-reform_n_2538309.html
Let's face it, if the Repuglicans can continue to demand 60 votes for anything to be brought to the Senate floor for a vote, then they have won -- BIG TIME.
We all know that if the Repuglicans had gained a majority in last November's election, they would probably have eliminated the filibuster entirely and Pres. Obama would have had to become 'President Veto'.
I hope this is some kind of Reid head fake, because otherwise, really, what is the point of a Democratic majority in the Senate?
Blue4Texas
(437 posts)catbyte
(34,166 posts)He's usually really good, but not about the filibuster. Stabenow is much more in synch on this.