Frustrated Harry Reid: Reform The Filibuster

Politico:

An angry Harry Reid took to the floor Thursday and demanded changes to the Senate’s hallowed filibuster rules, siding with junior Democrats who have sought to substantially weaken the powerful delaying tactic.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76189.html#ixzz1ua2FO6bu

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Comments

[demotom]

11:37 AM on 05/12/2012

We elect people to our legislative bodies to govern. In the case of the US Senate we elect 100 senators who go to Washington, set up the rules of the Senate to make governing almost impossible, and then we wonder why it is that gridlock blocks any real progress in the progress in governing. The idiotic rules in the senate that allow the minority to govern by means of the roadblock must be changed to allow our government to function as our founding fathers envisioned when they created the House and the Senate. This garbage where the republican minority blocks essentially everything in the Senate must be brought to a stop ASAP. By not voting on bill before the Senate the senators get to hide behind the issues and thus escape the scrutiny of the people who elected them to serve the needs of those very same people. Change the senate rules at the earliest opportunity to allow simple majority rule at the beginning of the next session of the new senate in January, 2013.

[Sue Sparks]

06:53 PM on 05/11/2012

good luck Harry

[marinemomof3]

05:24 PM on 05/11/2012

Does this mean more than 2 1/2 days a week and less than 4 mos + on vacation

[TurnSeiki]

04:07 PM on 05/11/2012

Don't worry, Harry. You won't need to worry about the filibuster after January 20, 2013.

[jrutle]

04:06 PM on 05/11/2012

At times, Harry Reid seems to be one of the slowest people on the face of the planet.  For he to just now discover that the filibuster is a farce and that Republicans can't be trusted practically brands him as an incompetent leader.  His slavish love for the filibuster and Senate tradition over the needs of the country allowed the last Congress to become a total farce and was largely responsible for the political bloodbath that Democrats took in 2010.  Because what the country saw, and vulnerable Democrats in the House and Senate experienced, was a Senate leadership that was more concerned with its hallowed traditions than in dealing with the pressing problems our country was, and continues, to experience.  And Reid is largely to blame for this.  He, Dianne Feinstein, and a few other Democratic Senators became wed to the filibuster in the early 2000's when they were in the minority fighting Trent Lott and Bill Frist's threats to blow up Senate rules due to Democratic blocks on Bush judicial and political appointments.  The idea of the "constitutional" or "nuclear" option didn't originate with Democrats, but with the GOP leadership and their conservative think tanks.  Then, when Democrats became the Senate majority, Reid maintained the filibuster and cloture rules, essentially turning the Senate into a super majority body because the GOP was dedicated to blocking Obama and everything the Democrats were trying to pass.  After all this time, Reid finally realizes that some junior Senators have been right all along and the Democrats should have used the nuclear option to blow up the filibuster and cloture rule once and for all and allow the Senate to pass legislation by simple majority, a democratic concept that seems to work well for virtually every other legislative body in America.  The sooner Harry Reid is replaced as Democratic Senate Leader the better the Democratic party and country will be.  And, Democrats should not fear that ending the archaic filibuster will now hurt us if the GOP wins back the Senate in November.   That will enable the GOP to become truly accountable for its obstructionist ways and enable Democrats to return to power very quickly.  For, the last thing in the world the GOP should want is to be accountable for its policies, which are detrimental to the great majority of Americans.

[Spanky231]

04:02 PM on 05/11/2012

Funny how Harry wants to modify something he himself has invoked in the past. Remember Harry, the Democrats won't be in the majority forever. You may be longing for that filibuster rule sometime in the future.

[SmotPoker]

03:58 PM on 05/11/2012

While you are at it eliminate that useless entity known as the electoral college.

[GOPisrightforareason]

03:58 PM on 05/11/2012

if he sees the light, do us all a favor, go into it and stay there

[livinlikerome]

03:57 PM on 05/11/2012

Go Ahead Harry and change the rules...then pass a budget that shows Americans how many Trillions of Dollars you Plan to Waste this year (1st Budget in 3 Years)...

[TurnSeiki]

03:55 PM on 05/11/2012

Interesting considering he used it incessantly before they took the house and senate in 2006.

[climbing panda]

03:49 PM on 05/11/2012

the filibuster is meant as a check on the majority's power in the senate. it's a frustration when Democrats are in power, but what happens when they inevitably lose power?

[RealistBC]

04:01 PM on 05/11/2012

Then the Republicans hold votes when there are no Democrats present. You'd think that the Dems would have learned when the GOP kept holding sessions where the Dems were locked out of the proceedings back before 2006.

[lavarrock]

03:48 PM on 05/11/2012

Never gonna happened. The democrats need the filibuster to blame GOP obstructionism for why they passed through their corporate legislation.

[giftsthatpurr]

11:21 AM on 05/12/2012

LOL - I am sorry you havwe been so misinformed

[lavarrock]

10:07 AM on 05/14/2012

Sounds right to me.

[Sorenson]

03:47 PM on 05/11/2012

KILL THE FILIBUSTER NOW!

[keramos]

03:47 PM on 05/11/2012

Congratulations, Harry. It only took you how many years to see that? If you still have a majority after the elections, that better be your first order of business when the new congresses are seated in January, 2013. Do you think your memory will last that long this time? Maybe you better write it down. On your hand.

[Twopennygal]

03:45 PM on 05/11/2012

It's about time.