Republicans are sabotaging our government at home and overseas...

[Human101948]

Remember when the Republicans were screaming about this during the Bush debacle?

Senate Republicans Are Blocking Obama's Judges at a Nearly Unprecedented Rate

The Senate has confirmed just nine judges nominated by President Obama so far this year. It's the slowest pace of confirmations in more than half a century, on track to match the 11 confirmations in 1960.

"It's still like pulling teeth to move nominations," says a senior Democratic Senate aide. "They're being held by a number of different Republican senators for every reason under the sun. None of which have anything to do with the actual qualifications of the nominees."

With Republicans in charge of both branches of Congress, odds are slim that Obama will sign major domestic legislation during the last two years of his presidency. Even keeping the government's lights on and selecting a new House speaker have required protracted fights in this dysfunctional Congress. But judges are still one area where a hamstrung president can leave a mark, as district and circuit court judges who win confirmation receive a lifetime appointment.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/senate-republicans-block-obama-judge-nominations

America’s Empty Embassies
By WALTER F. MONDALE DEC. 29, 2015
...American diplomats have made remarkable progress across a number of fronts, from
climate change to checking Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Such success depends on making common cause with our allies, an effort
led by America’s ambassadors. And yet, thanks to Senate politics, dozens of
ambassadorial nominations have been delayed unnecessarily. At one point in
2014, nearly a quarter of the world’s countries lacked an American
ambassador, and even today, despite some efforts to approve candidates, a
dozen nominations have not received congressional action — including
nominees to represent the United States in strategically vital countries like
Mexico, Norway and Sweden.

Some of these are still early in the nomination process, but several have
received overwhelming bipartisan support in committee, only to see their
candidacy halted on the Senate floor.

-more-

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/opinion/americas-empty-embassies.html?emc=edit_th_20151229&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=70251688&_r=0

[Proserpina]

1. Congress is dysfunctional, and has been for decades

It can't pass a budget, fill vacancies, or otherwise take care of the nation's legislative needs in a timely and businesslike manner, but it can do any number of outlandish stunts and waste millions of manhours on stuff that people neither need nor want from them: inviting foreign heads of state to lecture them, give massive tax breaks to the 1%, cut the legs out from under the impoverished, etc.

It's a lack of party discipline, IMO. And Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are suspects 1 and 2.

[wolfie001]

3. 'And Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are suspects 1 and 2'.........

.......seriously?......

[Proserpina]

4. Good leadership is recognized by the legacy it leaves behind

[Scuba]

7. What did they get done in 2009?

[wolfie001]

10. Didn't proffer up enough unicorns, obviously

Good thing Pelosi has/had reasonable humans such as Looney Goobert, Michelle (those eyes, eeek) Bachman and Steve (cantaloupes) King to strike deals with. Also, McTurtle from Kentucky is very willing to do....exactly nothing. But, please, let's blame the Dems. Should help with the next election's turnout.

[Scuba]

11. Securing voting rights would have been a nice unicorn.

I guess they were too busy passing Mitt Romney's healthcare plan.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. Securing the Mitt Romney healthcare plan to was/is light years ahead of what we had ...

and is responsible for (at least one) DUer being with us today.

I don't consider that a small thing.

[wolfie001]

14. Yes, you're right!

Many underserved (or not served at all) have benefited from the ACA! Keep improving this plan until it helps all Americans!

[1StrongBlackMan]

20. Amazingly, a segment of DU is utterly incapable of accepting anything less than perfection ...

and would rather have nothing ... so long as they, personally, are not negatively affected by their purity.

[Scuba]

15. Better than not, agreed. But a public option would have been world's better.

[1StrongBlackMan]

18. Universal coverage would have been better still than a public option; but, ...

you know ... that whole divided government thing.

[Scuba]

19. In 2009 Dems controlled the White House, House and Senate yet Obama didn't even try.

[1StrongBlackMan]

21. That's because President Obama can count. eom.

[Scuba]

22. He can speak to, when he feels like it ...

[wolfie001]

13. Whack-a-mole politics

Better to secure the Supreme Court nominations (win the WH next year). That would go a long way to solving the "Voting Crisis", IMO.

[pampango]

6. "And Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are suspects 1 and 2." Certainly, McConnell and Boehner

are not to blame. Nor the tea party idiots that screws things up.

[Phil1934]

2. they are not the ones

who voted 60 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act

[Dustlawyer]

5. I would rather Bernie nominate them anyway!

Obama's picks have all come from big banking and insurance defense firms. Individuals don't stand a chance with his appointees. The Republicans would normally not have a problem with these appointees, except of course it's Obama doing the appointing.

You will not see a federal judge appointed who comes from a Trial Lawyer background. No plaintiff judges allowed.

[Human101948]

8. Will Republicans be less recalcitrant with Bernie's nominees?

While you may be correct about the quality of Obama's picks, I can't see Republicans confirming nominees that are guaranteed to torpedo their benefactors. Unless, of course, all our fantasies come true with a Democratic sweep of the Senate and House.

[Dustlawyer]

9. I am sure they will. I would be hopeful that Bernie will direct us and our people power to

pressure the other politicians to move on the nominees, but yes they will oppose any and all. We have a lot of work to do to put the fear of loss in these established politicians.

[1StrongBlackMan]

17. I think you (will) see what you want to see ...

regardless of what has really occurred.

Obama's picks have all come from big banking and insurance defense firms.

This is a statement, wholly unsupportable, by fact.

[rurallib]

16. much of this can be laid at the feet of Chuck Grassley

especially the judiciary where he refuses to move a damn thing now that he is head of that committee.
At one point he was also holding 20+ state department nominees waiting for Clinton to respond to some questions he had. The Paris attacks embarrassed him into releasing many of those holds.

Iowa will most likely elect him once more because we seldom turn out a republican no matter how bad.

[mountain grammy]

23. That one Senator has this much power over appointments is disgusting..

he's not even my senator, nor could he get elected in many parts of the country. Yet one senator is allowed to stop the workings of a democratically elected president? We need to get over the idea of democracy.