Is Harry Reid Crazy Like A Fox - Or Just Plain Crazy?

Reid uses the ‘nuclear option’ in the Senate, setting stage for more partisan confrontation

To avoid a vote on President Obama's jobs bill Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked a procedural motion that could change the way the Senate operates for years to come. It may not sound sexy, but the gist of last night's high-parliamentary drama was this: The majority party in the Senate now may have a new power to cut off motions to suspend the rules.

For several days, Senate Republican leaders have pushed for a vote on the American Jobs Act. Their thinking in forcing a vote is simple, and quite political: They know Democrats have not yet whipped together enough votes for it to pass, so the exercise is more about embarrassing the Democratic majority than anything else.

To do this, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) moved to add two Republican amendments to a bipartisan bill intended to punish China for undervaluing its currency. One amendment was a version of the president's jobs plan. And in order to push the amendment through, McConnell intended to file a motion to suspend the rules, which would require 67 votes and surely fail, giving Republicans the ability to say that Obama's jobs bill had failed. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that McConnell's motion was in order, and that the body could proceed with a vote on the amendments.

So far, so simple--at least by the standards by which the Senate does business. But Reid, who plans to put a version of the jobs bill to a vote in the coming weeks, blocked the Republican effort by resorting to what has long-been called the "nuclear option": He got a procedural ruling from the parliamentarian that changes the minority's ability to introduce amendments when a filibuster is defeated. Reid called for a motion to simply overrule the parliamentarian's call permitting the McConnell amendment to go forward and he succeeded. Under the Reid rule change, a simple majority of 51 votes can effectively block the amended version of the AJA bill that McConnell was trying to marshal through the chamber.

That's a big, and potentially game-changing, shift in Senate procedure. Normally, the Senate can agree to waive the rules with a two-thirds vote once the majority overcomes a filibuster and members have 30 hours to introduce and debate the amendments. This is part of what sets the Senate apart from the House as the federal government's most deliberative body.

In one move, Reid abandoned years of precedent in the Senate and essentially cut off one of the minority party's most powerful weapons. It's a high-risk tactic, though, since Reid may have set the chamber on a course that could undermine his own party if Republicans one day become the majority in the Senate. A future Republican majority leader could easily point to Reid's gambit and deny Democrats the same ability to introduce their own amendments.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/reid-uses-nuclear-option-senate-setting-stage-more-140312605.html

 

Nice piece.

 

Sounds like the dims are putting forth a great deal of effort to avoid having to vote on BO's job "act".

 

Sounds like the Cons are doing everything they can to protect the upper 1%....As usual. And you cheer for them?

If you actually read the article, it said: For several days, Senate Republican leaders have pushed for a vote on the American Jobs Act. Their thinking in forcing a vote is simple, and quite political: They know Democrats have not yet whipped together enough votes for it to pass, so the exercise is more about embarrassing the Democratic majority than anything else.

 

Okay, now think about this for a moment. BO has presented a Jobs "Act" that he has demanded be passed right now..we can't wait, right now! The Repubs are calling for an immediate vote, as BO has requested, but it's the Dims holding things up because they don't have the votes? Really?

 

There has been no debate and no discussion of the bill. If they did pass it right now you'd be complaining that they rammed it through without any discussion or even being able to read the bill first. The Cons have no intention of even considering the passing of this bill because it impacts the wealthiest 1% slightly. They can't let that happen for the good of the county. I know it, you know it but you defend them anyway in some sort of self-flagellation exercise only you understand, unless you are part of the greedy 1% which I seriously doubt. Heck, I'm far closer to that 1% than you'll ever be and I can see the good this jobs act will do while you only apologize and defend billionaires.

 

Uhmmm... It's called political maneuvering. I think that the Democrats' idea is not to simply have a vote just to have a vote, but rather to actually get the bill passed. Using the system in ways that they feel will advance their agenda is something that politicians do. I'm surprised that you don't know this.

 

Do you two see how absurd this is? BO spent months hyping this "Act", he rolled it out in the media, he's been criss-crossing the country campaigning for it's passage, accusing the right of obstructionism and telling us how badly it needs to be passed....and passed NOW!!!! McConnell is trying to show the country just how horrible the bill is by asking Dims to put their money where their mouths are. Reid is proving, in his own way, how horrible the "Act" is by delaying the vote until he can "persuade" (as only the Dim leadership can) fellow Obamacrats to go along with BO. My guess would be there are several DIms smart enough to realize what happened in the last round of elections & they don't want to be swept out the next time by being too closely associated with another of BO's grand flops.

 

I can deal with your unsupported assertions and what I feel is a somewhat inventive approach to reality, but now you are boring me and that is unforgivable. I think going forward I'll stick to interacting with those here on the Right who I trust and who seem to live on the same planet as I do and who, most importantly, challenge and entertain me.

 

I find him entertaining. Especially the stories he makes up. He seems to have one for just about any occasion and he always seems to be the person in his stories with the vastly superior political stance which you'd think we'd see from time to time if it actually happened as often as he claims it happens in his day to day interactions but for some reason all we get is D-list David.. Hum? Like I said, very entertaining.

 

Moen, all ll I can say is I'm glad you're willing to take on the task of keeping him occupied. I'm just amazed that you find it enjoyable I'm probably not approaching him in the right spirit.

 

Maybe because the Democrats don't have a lobbyist like Grover Norquist running around making them sign pledges to not even consider legislation while the people that elected these fools have no say in what they do. 3/4 of the country want to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans while even 66% of Republicans want to raise taxes on them but are they listened to by the Cons on Congress? Hell no because Grover is pulling their strings in spite of what a clear majority of the country wants. You might as well come to grips with who is controlling your party and it ain't people like you. You're simply an apologist for those that are shafting you and your response is pretty much, "Please Sir! May I have another."

 

Exactly! You have to approach someone like him with without the slightest respect for his opinion. I have none so most of my posts just tease and taunt him while it is his self-proclaimed mission to be Don Quixote fighting the liberal windmills in his mind. You can pity a dumb animal but I'm not sure pity is called for in this case.

Now let me make this clear so he doesn't go crying off to the mods saying that I just called him a dumb animal because I didn't. I am merely saying that I have more pity for a dumb animal that I have for him.

 

Oh, when reality hits a leftie in the face.....

And the most telling bit of your post, dr moen, phd?:
"They know Democrats have not yet whipped together enough votes for it to pass"

If this "Act" is so vital to our future, do you wonder why the Dims don't have the votes? What's up with that?

 

Now do you see the absurdity? Here you are making the argument that someone is telling Reps they can't consider legislation while your earlier posts criticize Repubs for demanding a vote...on BO's pet project no less. Wow.

 

Well at least we agree on something....

 

Funny how you hang on dr moen, phd's? every word.....did you catch him using veiled intimations about my sexual preference as a means to insult me? Is being gay a pejorative to you? It sure seems to be in dr moen phd's? world.

 

Funny how you find yourself on the wrong side of every issue.

 

That depends on your perspective.