Discussion for article #222833
Congratulations, Mitch. You have destroyed an institution that was working fine for over 200 years. You must be very proud of yourself.
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The GOP does have a point that he is blocking amendments, but when you see what they are it is hard to blame the guy. On a bipartisan bill they try to stick in conservative priorities.
Even if they pass the senate they would dead in the House. That place is gone except for conservative conspiracy theories.
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Oh, a “message” was indeed “sent” the other day by your obstructionist vote, Orrin Hatch, you blithering asshole. Just not the one you think.
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Sad thing is, when the republicans take over the senate, the dems will go back into full collaborator mode. They won’t fight against anything, they won’t filibuster the Alito’s or the trickle down crap nothing. It’ll be all back-slapping comity again…
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Attention “Senate expert” Sarah Binder: when the minority party filibusters a bill it negotiated and supports because the majority party won’t allow it to change the deal by tacking on poison pill amendments after the negotiations are closed, the problem isn’t that both parties are being unreasonable.
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“The combination of Senate rules and competitive, polarized parties makes the Senate near ungovernable.”
Give me a break. This is Villager groupthink at its worst.
The Senate moved plenty of legislation (and nominations) when Democrats were in the minority. It’s the GOP that’s made the Senate ungovernable.
False equivalency fail.
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“This useless, mind-boggling obstruction is what continually grinds the wheels of the Senate to a halt,” Well DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! There is so much that could be done, starting with requiring a simple talking filibuster which would weed out 90 percent of the obstruction, as half the Senate’s prostates would explode after about an hour…
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This is why getting out the vote counts more this year than lately. These jerks have stolen a lot of power and need to be turned back in order for the Country to thrive.
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These are grown men, supposedly the leaders of our country, having pissing contests, then even disputing those outcomes. It is almost pointless and is definitely useless and counter productive.
We will get years of nothing happening tacked on to the previous 5 years of next to nothing happening.
No one wins and everybody (99%) loses. We gotta get the voters to the booths.
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Between the incessant filibustering by Republicans in the Senate since 2008 and the GOP’s recent Idaho Gubernatorial Debate, it’s pretty clear that free speech has no real meaning to conservatives. Either they forbid it or they talk their “beliefs” to death. They’re so busy obsessing over the subject at hand they can’t articulate their positions.
When people acted like that in mankind’s ancient past, the populace usually left them alone in the wilderness to see if they were sane enough to find their way back on their own. Republicans no longer can find their way out of a paper bag.
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Republicans can always find a few Democrats willing to sabotage their party for a little personal gain, so yes, the filibuster will cease to be a problem when Republicans are in charge; but right now, Republicans are so scared shitless of their “leadership” that even when they are going to retire in a month, they still vote with the pack, against anything that might give the black president a win.
I suspect it has a lot to do with hidden bribes, like a handshake agreement on some cushy after-politics “job”, or a string of very generous “speaking fees”. If you are Koch brothers rich, there are lots of ways to buy a congressman, and to threaten him. The Koch brothers have been tireless in their attempts to kill renewable energy, and energy efficiency might cut into oil profits.
As to research tax breaks, if Republicans are on board, then they are most certainly unfunded. I would like to see more R&D, but not as part of another public liability/private profit.
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I’ve speculated cynically for years that GOP politics has increasingly decoupled from conservative policy, i.e. that almost everything is about posturing to win elections in the most unethical fashion possible and that therefore acting to solve real problems – even if the solutions are stupid – doesn’t matter. I guess my cynicism was warranted.
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I’m sick of this bickering! I want the Dems to join with the Republicans in their filibuster and kill the extenders for once and for all
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The only thing Republicans shoud be filibustering is the seating of Republicans in any government office.
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Just get rid of the filibuster. It’s not a constitutional requirement; it’s just a rule. Get rid of it now and start passing legislation through the Senate in the run-up to the mid-terms, and take the filibuster rule to the electorate.
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One solution is to require the senators who filibuster to represent 45% of the American people so we never again have the sorry record of 41 Republicans representing 16% of the people blocking needed legislation.
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The Senate is a disaster, far more than the House in some ways. Everyone on both sides of the aisle are too busy playing games and gaming the rules to actually do anything remotely productive. We need a couple major rule changes.
First, a bill deals with only one thing. No attachment of unrelated riders that would never pass by themselves. If you want to vote on the medical device question, put it into a bill by itself and let’s have a vote. That’s fine. If it’s a good idea, it should pass. If not, well…tough luck.
Second, get rid of the cloture vote and make it a simple majority unless the Constitution says otherwise. If 59 Senators aren’t enough to pass something…then it’s pretty clear the “system” is broken. ENOUGH of this Stupidity!
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That’s looking more and more like that could be awhile.
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"It had nothing to do with policy," said Senate Finance Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who filibustered the bill even though he supported it. "It had to do with how we proceed. And frankly I think a message was sent today."
Yes, and that message is, “We simply don’t care any more! If you’re not going to let us run things ALL THE TIME (even when we’re in “the minority”), then NOTHING gets done – not even stuff we WANT!!!”
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