Senate to consider filibuster changes

Nelson balks at Dems rule plan
Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson balked at an attempt by fellow Democrats to change the chamber’s rules on the opening day of Congress with a simple majority rather than the traditional two-thirds threshold. Asked about using the so-called “constitutional option,” which allows 51 senators to amend the chamber’s rules on the first day of a new Congress, Nelson replied, “I don’t want to do that.” Continue Reading Text Size - + reset “I think you can do it...

Filibuster rules reform: Here's the package. Now the clock starts ticking
Filibuster rules reform: Here's the package. Now the clock starts ticking Well, as we observed this morning, the Republicans are out in force whining about Democrats' plans to reform the Senate's Filibuster rules. This morning on Fox & Friends, the usual Doocy-Carlson-Kilmeade trio gave a cursory report -- complete with a chryon describing it as a "power grab" by Democrats -- emphasizing Mitch McConnell's suggestion that this it would hurt Democrats down the road if they "eliminate the ...

Could Dems' Effort to Blunt Filibuster Crush Move to End Secret Holds?
As a handful of frustrated Senate Democrats attempts to change the way the Senate conducts a Filibuster, it is becoming clearer that should they force such a change, they could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in another area where they are seeking to make a major adjustment. Right now, any one senator can anonymously block a nominee or piece of Legislation by simply placing what's called a "hold" on the person or bill. Scores of nominees have been stymied over the years by both parties us...

Some Democrats Try To Rewrite Rules On Filibusters
Swearing in 13 newly elected members likely won't be the only order of business as a new session of the Senate gets under way Wednesday. Some Democrats also want to use opening day to change the rules for two Senate practices they say have gotten out of hand: Filibusters, which block bills from coming to a vote, and secret holds, which are anonymous threats to carry out a filibuster. It's mostly the newer Democratic senators who are gunning to place greater restrictions on the filibuster and sec...

Senate Dems Unveil Their Filibuster Reforms
Senators Tom Udall [D, NM], Tom Harkin [D, IA] and Jeff Merkley [D, OR] have released an official outline of their Filibuster reform package. As expected, it would force senators who want to Filibuster to actually stand up and delay things instead of being able to Filibuster by just threatening to delay. It would also eliminate filibusters on simply beginning debate of a bill, ensure that both parties can submit amendments and make it impossible for senators to put holds on bills without reveali...

Filibuster Reform Fight Unfolds In Senate
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports:   With the Democrats’ majority in the Senate today dwindling from 58 seats to 53 as the 112th Congress kicked off, they wasted no time in embarking on an effort to change Senate rules to make it harder for the minority party to Filibuster Legislation. “The United States Senate must solve problems, not create them,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a Speech on the chamber’s floor. “No one can deny that the Filibuster

Some Senate Democrats to try to change filibuster rules in new Congress
Washington (CNN) - Senate Democrats, anxious to reign in what they consider abuse of the Filibuster by Senate Republicans, will formally propose changes Wednesday to how and when senators can use the stalling tactic. However, Senate leaders - using their own procedural smoke and mirrors - will postpone votes on the proposals until late January at the earliest as they negotiate possible compromises to the politically contentious issue, according to Senate leadership aides from both parties....

Send in Your Transpo Questions for the 112th Congress
The new Congress has been sworn in and John Boehner has been elected Speaker of the House, 241-173. Nancy Pelosi has handed him the (strangely over-sized) gavel and he just took the oath of office. In his Acceptance Speech, he stressed fiscal discipline and Spending Cuts. The first vote the new Congress will take will be on new rules governing the Congress, including the one we told you about Monday that would allow Congress to withhold transportation funds. By holding the money in the bank, law...

American Sauce: Three things missed about the new Congress
Senate Attic, Capitol Hill (CNN) - The GOP has taken over the U.S. House and the headlines. But there are other, significant stories of the 112th Congress. Here are three you shouldn't miss: the largest class of new members in decades, the Democrat divide and a rare, serious push to change Senate Filibuster rules. The 112th Congress has, believe it or not, 112 new members. That's if you include the three senators and two House members who won special Elections and were sworn in last Novemb...

Happy Hour Roundup
* Is Nancy Pelosi openly siding against Harry Reid, and with the House GOP, on Earmarks? That's what Eric Cantor says he took from a Conference Call he had with Pelosi and Obama today. Aaccording to Cantor, Pelosi remarked that she'd like to see Reid join her and the House GOP in doing away with earmarks, a leading House GOP priority. "She would think it would be a big move (if) we could get the Senate to come our way," Cantor said in parahprasing her remarks to a Virginia paper. Cantor's offi...

In House, New Republican Majority Plans to Act Fast to Undo Obama's Agenda
© Michael S. Williamson / The Washington Post Almost as soon as they take control of the House at noon Wednesday, Republicans will embark on a 20-day plan aimed at undoing major aspects of President Obama's agenda as they seek to take advantage of the weeks before the Senate's return and the president's State of the Union address. The first move will come Friday, when the House begins the process of repealing the new health-care law. House leaders will then quickly begin to identify tens...

Filibuster This Plan
The junior Democratic senators are fed up, understandably so, with the institution’s glacial pace. Liberal Activists are demanding Filibuster reform—now. They should be careful what they wish for. The reforms under discussion make complete sense. But they also wouldn’t do much to address the fundamental complaint about the filibuster: that it effectively imposes a Supermajority requirement for any Senate action. And as a pure matter of partisan politics, these changes could e...

Democrats seek ways to reduce filibuster threats
WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats have what they think may be a unique window of opportunity to tame the Filibuster power that the Republican minority has used so effectively in recent years to foil the Democratic agenda. Normally, it takes a two-thirds majority to change Senate rules, one reason the Filibuster system that has contributed to Senate paralysis hasn't been touched since 1975. But on the first day of a new session, a simple majority is enough to change rules and on Wednesday Sen. T...

Democrats seek ways to reduce filibuster threats
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats have what they think may be a unique window of opportunity to tame the Filibuster power that the Republican minority has used so effectively in recent years to foil the Democratic agenda. Normally, it takes a two-thirds majority to change Senate rules, one reason the Filibuster system that has contributed to Senate paralysis hasn't been touched since 1975. But on the first day of a new session, a simple majority is enough to change rules and on Wednesday Sen...

Gulp. I Agree With the Democrats on Filibuster Reform
Or, at least, I’m inclined to on first blush. Here’s what the package on offer by Senate Democrats Tom Harkin (Iowa), Tom Udall (Colo.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) would do:  -End the Filibuster on motions to proceed (since this amounts to unlimited debate on whether to allow debate at all). -Make all filibusters on substantive measures “talking” or “Jimmy Stewart” filibusters; Senators much actually stand and hold the floor. (How it works now is ...

Grassley To Take GOP Helm At Senate Judiciary Committee
The Senate Judiciary Committee will have a new top Republican in the 112th Congress. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is slated to take over the ranking member post from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), pending resolution of a fight over Senate Filibuster rules that is holding up committee organizing for the new Congress. Grassley is moving to Judiciary from a plum perch as ranking member of the tax-writing Finance Committee. A GOP rule limits Senate Republicans to no more than six years in top commit...

Constitutional cites, NYT and fundamentalism
The New York Times editorial board wasted little time in attempting to attack the new Republican led House in the way smug elitists usually do … by invoking “Fundamentalism”.   In this case the fundamentalism is an apparent attempt by a party to refocus the Legislation it plans on debating and passing on the “fundamental” legal document of the land. That just won’t do: In any case, it is a presumptuous and self-righteous act, suggesting that they alone understan

The Judicial Filibuster
Filibuster reform is all the rage in the progressive blogs these days. I am not a fan of filibuster reform at this time for results oriented reasons. Now is not the time to make the passage of Legislation easier, given the extreme GOP controlled House and a supine Dem President. But I also have an objection on the philosophical merits to filibuster reform regarding Judicial Nominations. My old Law Professor Bruce Ackerman revisits this issue and turns back to an article he wrote in 2005, when ...

Harry Reid: Americans Love Government!
**Written by Doug Powers Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi must drink their lunch from the same jar of delusion: On the first day of the new Congress, the Nevada Democrat lamented in his opening remarks what he referred to as obstruction from Senate Republicans over the past few years, accusing them of using stalling tactics to score political points on some Legislation. [...] “The American People love government, but they don’t like too much politics in government,” he said. Wrong, and wrong.

Perlmutter: I want to read the 14th Amendment in defense of health care
Stoked by a new-infusion of Tea Party spirit, some U.S. House of Representatives members will read the entire Constitution on the floor at the start of Congress tomorrow. But Jefferson County Democrat Congressman Ed Perlmutter doesn’t want to be left out. The lawyer and fierce defender of the new Health Care law said after his swearing in Wednesday that he is going to try and squeeze in the line of House members already queueing to read the 14th Amendment aloud on the House floor. The r...

John Boehner swings mighty gavel 'on loan from the people' (video)
A composed, proud John Boehner took the gavel today, as the Speaker of the House, representing the 2011 Republican majority brought in on the wave of the Midterm Elections.   It's a mighty gavel, in size and responsibility and Boehner  promises to remember that "After all, this is the people's House. This is their Congress. It's about them, not us. What they want is a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs. A government that respects individual liber...

Transparency, BipartisanshipJust Words?
Remember how, during the past few years, Republicans repeatedly accused the Democrats of a lack of “openness and transparency” in the legislative process, of not allowing adequate time to either review proposed Legislation or to debate it and—in particular in the case of the Health Care bill—of ramming it down the throat of the GOP and of the American People without going through the Bipartisan process, without holding sufficient hearings or markups? In reality, House Democrats ...

Lott, Madden on new player safety advisory panel
Hall of Famers Ronnie Lott and John Madden will co-chair an NFL panel aimed at improving player safety. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the NFL Player Safety Advisory Panel on Tuesday. It will consist of former NFL players, coaches and General Managers and make recommendations to Goodell on various safety issues. Other committee members are Antonio Freeman, Patrick Kerney, Willie Lanier, Anthony Munoz, Marty Schottenheimer and Ernie Accorsi. NFL executive Ray Anderson says Goodell wants inp...

Lott, Madden Co-Chair NFL Safety Advisory Panel
NEW YORK (AP) — Hall of Famers Ronnie Lott and John Madden will co-chair an NFL panel aimed at improving player safety. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the NFL Player Safety Advisory Panel on Tuesday. It will consist of former NFL players, coaches and General Managers and make recommendations to Goodell on various safety issues. Other committee members are former players Antonio Freeman, Patrick Kerney, Willie Lanier, Anthony Munoz, former coach Marty Schottenheimer and former general...

Keeping up the pressure on filibuster reform
Today, the final, three-week phase of the Senate rules reform campaign begins. As the 112th Congress convenes, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico are leading Senate Democrats in procedural maneuvering that will prevent the Senate from continuing under the procedural rules of the 111th Senate. In place of the old rules, he, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, have presented a package of proposed changes to Senate rules for the 112th Senate. Over the next three weeks, cul...