Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
I’m an currently reading an advanced reader by Ira Shapiro about the US Senate. One of the problems he mentions is the filibuster. I’ve had quite a bit to say about the filibuster here.
I ran across this this morning while looking for some of Ira Shapiro’s shorter writing on the Senate. It is well worth the read if you are interested the the Senate or the filibuster.
If the Senate got rid of the filibuster some really useful things could be done. Here are a few things that could happen without a filibuster.
Continue reading “A few things that could happen without a filibuster”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen thinks it is time to abolish debt ceiling. I agree. It is a 100 year old law that has outlived its usefulness.
Continue reading “Time to abolish debt ceiling”
I find that I rarely agree with Senator Mitch McConnell. He recently said: “What works is when the majority accepts reality.” And I agree with that. Unfortunately the minority or at least part of it must also accept reality or we will have a badly divided government that cannot govern the country. Ideally both sides need to accept reality.
Continue reading “Accept Reality”
I thought keeping the government open and paying our debts was a good thing. But Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans seem to disagree with me. (SURPISE !)
The House Democrats seem to agree that both are good things. They put both in the same bill. Seems to me that while a government shutdown is bad, it has happened before. But failure of the United States to pay debts is unprecedented and catastrophic.
Continue reading “Mitch madness, debt, shutdowns and the filibuster”
The filibuster in the US Senate is now being abused to prevent the Senate passing legislation needed to govern the country. In the latest example the Minority Leader announced he will not allow any Republicans to vote to raise the debt ceiling.
Continue reading “Filibuster and debt ceiling”
We need to understand why and how the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol occurred. There is something very wrong and we need to understand it. We also need to know how on how we can prevent future attacks.
Continue reading “January 6 House select committee”
The filibuster allows a minority in United States Senate to prevent a measure from being brought to a vote. The filibuster ends when “three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn” vote to close debate by invoking cloture under Senate Rule XXII. Since there are 100 Senators now, 60 votes are required for cloture.
The recent failure of cloture on the bill to establish the bipartisan Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. Under the current Senate Rule XXII 60 votes are required for closure. The vote was 54 to 35 and closure failed.
Continue reading “Modify the filibuster”
Republicans in Congress have a choice. They can choose to continue opposing the majority in everything or they can choose to exert their power as a minority. This is an important point so let me repeat it another way. Simply put, Republican power is a choice.
The Democrats have a small majority is the House of Representatives. They can pass bills with a party line vote, although a bipartisan votes is preferred. One reason is President Biden’s desire for bipartisanship. Another would be that it just looks better to the American people.
Continue reading “Republicans can choose power”
Did you that Senators can actually Filibuster while on vacation? Senator Al Franken (D-MN) would like to end that nonsense.
Senator Franken would like to change the Filibuster rule so that Senators have to be in the Senate chamber to vote to maintain the Filibuster.
Follow this story on FireLakeDog which has had several stories on this in the last few days.
It has been called a Christmas miracle. But it is not quite there yet. Let’s hope the Senate can do the right thing.
The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 has been passed by the House but is now being filibustered in the Senate. The bill (HR 847) was passed by the House on September 29, 2010 and passed on to the Senate. Well it seems the Senate was rather busy and managed to read it twice by the middle of November and put it on the calendar and finally considered it on December 6. Then it was filibustered and on December 9 they voted to end the filibuster but that voted failed.
This is the recent legislative history accord to Thomas, Library of Congress
9/29/2010:
Received in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
11/15/2010:
Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 641.
12/6/2010:
Motion to proceed to consideration of measure made in Senate. (consideration: CR S8552)
12/6/2010:
Cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the bill presented in Senate. (consideration: CR S8552; text: CR S8552)
12/9/2010:
Cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill not invoked in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 57 – 42. Record Vote Number: 269. (consideration: CR S8668-8669; text: CR S8669)
12/9/2010:
Motion by Senator Reid to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the motion to proceed to the bill (Roll Call Vote No. 269) made in Senate. (consideration: CR S8669)
These are the votes (Roll Call Vote No. 269 to invoke cloture) according to Thomas
Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs —57
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Coons (D-DE)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)NAYs —42
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brown (R-MA)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kirk (R-IL)
Kyl (R-AZ)
LeMieux (R-FL)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Reid (D-NV)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Wicker (R-MS)Not Voting – 1
Brownback (R-KS)
Does anyone see a pattern here?
I don’t know when they will act but the NY Senators are optimistic. I hope the Senate does do the right thing. Here is a more complete story on this sad tale with the possible happy ending by ABC News
Notes added to post: I suspect I’ll be adding a bunch of notes to reflect recent events and posts I come across. Often they will be links to recent comments on news but sometimes a note from me will be here.
Update:
They did reach a compromise. It looks like the lame-duck Congress is actually reaching some agreements. Wer’ll have to see how the new congress does in 2011.