Supermajority

Jason Linkins

Unconstitutional Filibuster? Let's Do It, Let's Sue The Senate!

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Broken System, Eat the Press, Unconstitutional Filibuster, Congressional Dysfunction, Sue-the-Senate, Filibuster Reform, Filibuster Unconstitutional, Filibuster, Supermajority, Politics News

Lots of people agree that our government is currently bogged down in a morass of dysfunction that's so disastrous that it's basically criminal. And I ...

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Is the 60-Vote Norm Paralyzing the Senate?

Lyle Denniston | Posted 01.17.2012

Read More: Jeff Merkley, U.S. Senate, Senate, Supermajority, Politics News
Lyle Denniston

The Senate has been checking its tendency to talk at length by some such rule since 1917, but the insistence on 60 votes with great frequency is a thoroughly modern phenomenon and probably reflects, to a significant degree, the partisan polarization of American politics today.

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Hey, Union-Busters: We'll Give You a Supermajority

Leo W. Gerard | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Washington College of Law, American University, National Mediation Board, . Johnny Isakson, Card Check, Employee Free Choice Act, Winston & Strawn, Supermajority, National Labor Relations Board, U.S. Supreme Court, Efca, Linda Sorenson, Jamin B. Raskin, Nlrb, Railway Labor Act, Delta Airlines, Flight Attendants, Nmb, Business News
Leo W. Gerard

It's great that Sen. Johnny Isakson and his fellow conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate now back the supermajority concept that the Employee Free Choice Act achieves through "card check."

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President Obama, Replace Rahm With Me: An Open Letter From Michael Moore

Michael Moore | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: John McCain, Ben Nelson, Mitch McConnell, Flint, Republican Obstructionism, Afghanistan, George W. Bush, Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel Replacement, Democrats, Supermajority, Barack Obama, Ari Emanuel, Michael Moore, Rahm Emanuel, Nafta, David Axelrod, Election 2010, Health Care Reform, Al Gore, Bipartisanship, Robert Gibbs, Iraq, K Street, Retarded, Republicans, Politics News
Michael Moore

President Obama, I don't know what your team has been up to, but they haven't served you well. And Rahm, poor Rahm, has turned into a fighter -- not of Republicans, but of the left.

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No Hits, No Runs, Big Error

Lance Simmens | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Senator Jim Bunning, Filibuster, Obstructionism, Unemployment Benefits, Baseball, Supermajority, Politics News
Lance Simmens

Senator, playing with people's lives is not a game. These childish antics only reinforce the cynicism and distrust that a frustrated and worried populace feels towards their government.

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Filibusters Should Promote Democratic Deliberation

Steven P. Croley | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Filibuster, Democracy, Senate Filibuster, Senate Rules, Supermajority, GOP Filibuster, Speechless Filibuster, Politics News
Steven P. Croley

Ideally, a filibuster ensures that narrow majorities cannot impose dramatic policy changes; in fact, the speechless filibuster doesn't test the strength of competing convictions.

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Jeff Muskus

Scott Brown: 'I'll Be The 41st Vote, Not The 60th Vote"

HuffingtonPost.com | Jeff Muskus | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Scott Brown, Filibuster, Supermajority, Senate, Taxes, Economy, Job Growth, Democrats, Stimulus, Harry Reid, #Masen, Tax Cuts, Health Care Reform, Scott Brown Sworn In, Massachusetts, Republicans, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Politics News

Less than an hour after Scott Brown was sworn in as the Republican junior senator from Massachusetts, he made it clear where he stands on bipartisan c...

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The Fallacy of a Democratic Supermajority

Zach Friend | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, U.S. Senate, Senate, Super Majority, Democratic Senate, Obama, Democrats, Democrats Super Majority, Supermajority, Barack Obama, Politics News
Zach Friend

On the surface, there were 60 Democratic votes. But when you subtract two Independents, what existed was not 58 unilateral views or votes. A supermajority is a bloc, and this was never a bloc.

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California-style Supermajority Dysfunction Heads to DC

Sherry Bebitch Jeffe | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Scott Brown, California, Democratic Supermajority, Supermajority, Politics News
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe

Californians have lived through years of government gridlocked by rules that require a supermajority legislature ripped by partisanship. Washington could now mirror the Golden State's breathtaking dysfunction.

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Forget the Myth: 51 Senators Can End the Filibuster Today

Don Parker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Supreme Court, Party of No, Constitution, Cloture, Sen. Tom Harkin, Filibuster, Senate Rules, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Supermajority, Reconciliation, Sen. Tom Udall, U S v. BALLIN, Politics News
Don Parker

Fifty-one Senators can abolish or amend the filibuster rule at any time. They can do it today. They only have to summon the courage to act.

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Post-MA Massacre: Mr. Cosmo's Victory, SCOTUS FAIL, and Obama's 2010

Ted Johnson, Maegan Carberry, Teresa Valdez Klein | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Scott Brown, Scotus, Wilshire and Washington, Supreme Court, Health Care Reform, Massachusetts, Supermajority, Mccain-Feingold, Martha Coakley, Politics News
Ted Johnson, Maegan Carberry, Teresa Valdez Klein

On today's Wilshire & Washington, it's looking grim for the Democrats. Or was this their plan all along? This week's first big headline should be the ...

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The Other Half of the Picture

Carl Pope | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama's First Year, Filibuster, Senate, Supermajority, Barack Obama, Green News
Carl Pope

San Francisco -- I've written a couple of posts in the past week that analyze the first year of the Obama presidency from the perspective of executive...

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2009 Was Not the Senate's Finest Year

Lincoln Mitchell | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Supreme Court, House of Representatives, Communist, John McCain, North Dakota, Cloture, One Person One Vote, Al Franken, U.S. Constitution, Electoral College, Supermajority, Unequal Representation, California, Gray v. Sanders, U.S. Senate, Nazis, Board of Estimate of New York v. Morris, Health Care Reform, Joe Lieberman, Republican Party, Health Care, Chris Dodd, Politics News
Lincoln Mitchell

It was in the Senate this year where the goal of meaningful health care reform gave way to a bill that feels as if it was written by the insurance company lobbyists.

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California, Here We Come -- If We Don't Change Our Budget Ways

Matt Sundeen | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: California Budget, TABOR Amendment, GANN Amendment, Colorado Budget, Supermajority, Taxes, Bill Ritter, Colorado General Assembly, Colorado, Denver News
Matt Sundeen

The "change makes us California" story is intended to scare us, but like many good tales, it's blatantly untrue. Budget reforms will not transform us into the Golden State. Almost the opposite is true.

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Dems Find Supermajority Hasn't Changed Balance Of Power

Washington Post | Perry Bacon Jr. And Paul Kane | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: GOP Support, Democrats, Democratic Supermajority, Supermajority, Dems Still Need GOP Support, Politics News

Senate Democrats spent their first full day holding 60 votes just as they have spent the previous 2 1/2 years without such a supermajority: scrambling...

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Harry Reid: 60 Votes Doesn't Mean Anything

New York Times | CARL HULSE | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Reid Supermajority, 60 Votes, Harry Reid, Dem Supermajority, Harry Reid 60 Votes, Democratic Supermajority, Al Franken, Reid 60 Votes, Al Franken Senate, Democrats 60 Votes, Supermajority, Politics News

"We have 60 votes on paper," Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said Wednesday in an interview. "But we cannot bulldoze anybody; it doesn't work...

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