Harry Reid And Senate Democrats Vote To Limit Filibuster Use

Today Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Democrats voted for the so-called “nuclear option,” to end the procedural filibuster and the 60-vote threshold for judicial and executive nominees. Democrats had good reason to change the Senate rules in the middle of a session because Republicans have managed to double the all-time number of judicial and executive nominee filibusters during Obama’s presidency. Now that’s some bat shit crazy conservative obstruction.

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The Fake-Filibuster: Because Senator Ted Cruz Loves The Sound Of His Own Voice

When this article was published, Senator Ted Cruz was still fake-filibustering on the Senate floor. His reason for fake-filibustering is to denounce Obamacare and call for it’s defunding. This will never happen of course, but a little thing like reality won’t stand in the way of delusion for Republicans like Cruz. And I say this is a fake filibuster because Cruz has no power in this situation to hold the Senate hostage.

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Gun Control: Senate Votes 54-46 On Extended Background Checks

Today the Senate voted 54-46 on gun legislation that would extend background checks to include gun shows and online purchases. For those who are aware the bill did not pass, I purposely refrained from saying the Senate voted to defeat the bill. That’s because the bill would have passed if not for Republican filibuster. But as usual the media is lazy. If you search Google for “gun legislation filibuster,” most of the results are from 6 days ago, when Republicans threatened to filibuster debate of the legislation. Well today Republicans filibustered the actual Senate bill. Remove the filibuster and the bill passes by 8 votes.

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Eliot Spitzer – Number of the Day: Senate Filibuster Reform

Since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, Republicans have used the filibuster at an unprecedented rate. Take a look at this chart over at The Atlantic. There is no question filibuster reform is needed as both Democrats and Republicans have increasingly relied upon it when in the minority. But Republicans have taken reckless use of the filibuster to new heights since becoming the minority in the Senate in 2006.

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