Harry Reid Enrages GOP with Filibuster Reform Talk

Republicans set on keeping the status quo

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), are looking to neuter the filibuster, the procedure often used by the Senate minority party to stall or nix bills.

Reid's move is infuriating the GOP, and could jeopardize the post-election mood of bipartisanship.

Reid is considering rules which would ban filibusters from preventing the start of debates and force senators to be both present and talking during a filibuster, according to Politico.

This doesn't sit well with Senate GOP members, who say that eliminating the filibuster would undermine the Senate's consensus-building purpose, and cause the chamber to run more like the majority-vote House.

Reid himself opposed similar changes to the filibuster in 2006 when he was a part of the minority party. Now, however, Reid claims that Senate Republicans abuse the filibuster so often, that it's become nearly impossible to get routine tasks done. The Majority Leader has threatened to use what he once called the 'nuclear option' - which allows for a 51 majority vote, rather than the normal 67, to change Senate rules.

Via Politico

Do you support filibuster reform in the Senate?

[DouglasMHayes]

I agree with with Reid - absentee filibustering is TOO easy! If a Congressperson is committed to their reason for blocking a piece of legistlation, they should be there in person. If they are not physically up to it, too bad!

[1adam2]

i am sooo sorry, the constitution has already been corrupted too far. there is no point in corrupting it further. the forefathers of this nation, were more intelligent and wiser, than you or any politician today are. it is the smarter course, to refrain from any changes to the constitution.

[DouglasMHayes]

@1adam2 Don't be sorry - just be more truthful. Check out THIS link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/...

[1adam2]

@DouglasMHayes i can't imagine that the us government was so stupid, that it took them over 200 years to call somthing previously legal and accepted as all of a sudden illegal. but i can imagine, the us government of today is deceptive enough to try and get aways with anything. in this nation stupid enough, to let them get away with anything.

[woodtick57]

Yes. One senator should not be able to hold up legislation so easily.

[CanisCanemEdit]

"Reid himself opposed similar changes to the filibuster in 2006 when he was a part of the minority party."

And the bullshit just keeps rolling along.....

[Keyjo]

Yup, and no doubt it was the GOP majority that was pushing the rule changes.

[CanisCanemEdit]

@Keyjo - It's just ridiculous. Republicans and Democrats have this country so bound up in hateful rhetoric and flip-flopping on positions.

What our government needs is an good, hard enema.

[Keyjo]

@CanisCanemEdit
What our country needs is a revolution! We need to put an end to the plutocracy which has gripped the country. An end to the thirst for unmitigated power.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." ~ Lord Acton

"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it" ~ William Pitt

[artjeb]

@CanisCanemEdit Darn right.

If the govt had a enema it would get rid of a lot of crap which is needed .
If the crap was eliminated the govt wouldn't be needed . lol

[Denizen_Kate]

@CanisCanemEdit - "What our government needs is an good, hard enema." Would have to remove collective noggin from that orifice first.(Yes, moderators, I know this will get deleted, but I enjoy making Canis chuckle.)

[Dan_Tien]

As far as I can see, there is no "post-election mood of bipartisanship". I think that Reid's suggestions sound like a way to get things done, do not eliminate the filibuster except when it is used to block any debate from starting, and makes the most reasonable demand that a Senator who is supposedly engaged in a filibuster actually be present in the Senate chamber, awake and talking.

[Keyjo]

You have stated it perfectly. I totally agree and couldn't have said it any better.

[DARSB]

Agree. In particular I'd love to see Mitch McConnell hold the floor. How long could he speak, I wonder, before he puts even himself to sleep?:-)

[jimstillman]

You have expressed the situation very well.

[stepped_in_it]

Guess I'm lost! Always thought a filibuster meant taking and keeping the podium. Not announcing a filibuster and going to your hotel suite! Yeah, change it.

[bsking]

you don't need to read any farther than "ried himself opposed the move in 2006".

Harry Reid is a slimy little weasel who's made millions off of insider information and corrupt land deals. Ill probably be the DNC's choice for president next...

[Keyjo]

LOL.....
Now that the b.s.king has spewed his b.s..........
Do you actually have an opinion of the filibuster?

[bsking]

@Keyjo what bs ? did you read the story?
that's right you probably voted for John Kerry too who was for things before he was against them so Harry Reid flip flopping on this issue now means nothing to you... but then again you probably still think George Bush is the president

[Keyjo]

@bsking
Did YOU read the story? The Republicans are likewise "flip-flopping." It just goes to show that whichever party is in power simply wants it all, all the advantages. Neither side wants to play fairly and both need a time out.
Oh, and don't forget your meds.

[DerivePI]

This is neither neutering nor eliminating the filibuster and I suppose I'd have to see the video before I believed the opposition party was "enraged."

[twinertia]

Careful, Harry! It works both ways (phrasing).....

[Penn1699]

This guy is always looking for ways to divide. He's gotta go!

[Keyjo]

Yup, it's just him and no one else!
McConnell is the Gandhi of the Senate, right?

[woodtick57]

@Neo_NtheMatrix
This country wouldn't be in much better shape and more united that way.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

@woodtick57 - Why not? I can tell you this, the unemployment rate wouldn't be 8%. When people have jobs and don't have to grovel and beg the fed government for welfare and foodstamps, they feel a lot more united and willing to work with each other. Reid is a class warfare vet who got rich off of dividing the classes. He's very divisive, of which I would not accuse Sen. McConnell of being.

[Keyjo]

@Neanderthal_NtheMatrix
Okay: This country would NOT be in much better shape and more united that way.
How's that?
I will tell you that this country would be in much better shape and more united had Al Gore taken his rightfully, lawfully won place as POTUS instead of the conservative SCOTUS giving it to Bushwacky!
There you go girlfriend, that should leave you sufficiently pissed off for a while!
FUME ON!

[NormalFlora]

Filibusters are for cowards.

[DogLady_1]

Reid, you are cutting your own throat... GOP, keep up the status quo... be as stubborn as a mule... The fact that Obama won re-election should have told you that People are sick of the bipartisan factious BS... But no, both dems and reps should just keep doing everything you've been doing... fight amongst yourselves, pass laws that you will continue to challenge each year, assume that your partisan counter-part is stupid and unpatriotic... call names, promote divisive slogans and rhetoric, and then vote yourselves another raise... It seems that is all you are good for any more...

"There seems no reason why patriotism and narrowness should go together, or why intellectual fairmindedness should be confounded with political trimming, or why serviceable truth should keep cloistered because not partisan." -Herman Melville

"Partisanship is our great curse. We too readily assume that everything has two sides and that it is our duty to be on one or the other." -James Harvey Robinson

[tomincali]

so dirty harry decides that if someone else can pull it he wants to chance it?

[vws]

No - let them fight it out the way they have always have. If commisar Reid doesn't like it he shouldn't have run for office.

[MarkJM]

Nope, the only reason Prince Dingy Harry is doing this is so he can advance his agenda. I was against it in 2006 when the GOP tried to silence the Dems, I'm against it today for the same reasons (only this time the Dems trying to silence the GOP).

[Cool_voter]

HA!
HAHAHAHA!
Republicans are always trying to stop things in the most shady rude way possible.
Do it fair or do it alone, I just wish they wouldn't drag us down too!

[Real4WheelDrv]

"Reid himself opposed similar changes to the filibuster in 2006 when he was a part of the minority party." But now that he's in front, by gosh people WILL fall into line. Typical schoolyard BS from Congress, as if the Dems wouldn't be doing everything they could to block Republicans if roles were reversed...which reminds me...how many budget proposals have been rejected? And I'm sorry, but when has there EVER been a sense of bipartisan cooperation in the last decade? Certainly not now.

[Fishbone345]

Get rid of Piggybacking on Bills. I bet the desire to filibuster would go down.

[RobertJHarsh]

Filibuster away, GOP! I am willing to accept a two year government shutdown, not that I am on welfare or need the govt for anything anyway.

[classychazy]

I don't care who suggested it JUST GET IT DONE!! If they did what we paid them to do this wouldn't even be coming up!

[Grubby]

Let's see, so the Dems want to eliminate the filibuster, but will scream to high heaven if the republicans ever take the Senate and it serves to help them. I guess Reid figures that the Democrat majority in the Senate is a permanent thing, so he can just render the permanent minority party powerless.

[jessejaymes]

Reid is blowing smoke. Every time the minority party gets threatened with this and it never happens. Just smoke for the public to focus on while Congress does what they do best. NOTHING.