Filibuster

By my calculation, Senator Reid can count on 56 votes for the health care legislation as it now stands. Any attrition from this group would require Reid to reach across the aisle to recruit one or more moderate Republicans.

The Senate has voted to move forward with the health care bill. The vote was 60-39 in favor of debating the bill put forward by Senate Majority Leader...

Harry Reid thinks he's got enough votes, but then this is the reason why the vote keeps getting pushed back -- because he's obviously still scrambling for the final few votes before he moves ahead.

Senator Joseph Lieberman is the rarest of creatures, a political Chimera. He calls himself an Independent, caucuses with the Democrats and is at his core a staunch conservative.

Paradoxically, the filibuster -- a classic device of obstruction -- may turn out to be the unexpected pathway to health care reform.

As Senate Republicans prepare to filibuster one of President Obama's first judicial nominees, it's important to note how the debate has reversed over ...

With every month that goes by without health care reform, another 3,600 Americans die due to a lack of insurance. And Joe Lieberman, like Elaine in that classic Seinfeld episode, is stopping off for Jujyfruits.

By now most people have heard the story of the frog that's put in a pot of cold water on a hot stove and doesn't notice as it is gradually boiled to d...

Blue America has run TV spots against Lincoln all summer and fall and she's watched her re-elect numbers dwindle. This week Blue America has a brand new ad for Arkansas voters to look at.

It's March 16, 1965. We have a Democratic President. We have large Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate. It's long been part of the progressive and liberal platform...

Alliance for Justice has released a new report on judicial selection in the first ten months of the Obama administration.

The Constitution provides the circumstances under which more than a majority is required, and this type of legislation being considered for health care reform is definitely not on the list.

If Ben Nelson decides to filibuster a Democratic health care bill that includes a public insurance option, he should expect to lose support among Nebr...

As the health care fight approaches its end game, there's now a way for us, as ordinary citizens, to exercise power, and create enough of a potential cost to deter conservatives standing in the way.

With the Republicans becoming locked into being the party of No, Democrats are going to need to seriously consider revising the rules of the Senate at the beginning of next term.

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid works to cobble together the 60 votes he needs to overcome an expected Republican attempt to block a floor vote o...

Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? His threat to thwart a vote on health care legislation should be the last straw that ends his Democratic caucus connection.

If a health care bill is as critical as the Democrats -- and American public -- say it is, then what matters is passing it in as strong a form as possible, not gutting it for the sake of one, empty Republican vote.

There is no such thing as a Republican filibuster. Right now, the only ones who can stand in the way of giving the American people meaningful health care reform are our elected Democratic Senators.

If a Democratic Senator votes to prevent his party from having an up or down vote on its top domestic priority, he is endangering the political lives of his swing district colleagues. That would be unforgivable.

President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as p...

"One or two votes shy" of the public option means Reid is allowing members of the Democratic caucus to threaten a filibuster behind closed doors and dictate what will be in the bill he brings to the floor.

Forcing Senators like Nelson, Baucus, and Lincoln to respond to the American public, through a petition, would be the right thing politically as well as morally.