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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Hey! We missed this one...and it's BIG!

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Sunday, January 30, 2011 09:29
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Friday, January 28, 2011 12:02 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


NO MORE SECRET HOLDS!
Quote:

The Senate on Thursday approved a standing order curtailing “secret holds” that senators use to anonymously block legislation and nominations, a change that Senate leaders agreed to as part of deal announced on the floor Thursday to avoid some of the procedural battles that have hobbled the chamber in recent years.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also said they agreed to cut by a third the number of executive branch nominees requiring Senate confirmation.

The two also agreed that majority Democrats will allow Republicans to offer more amendments to legislation, and in return Republicans will not block legislation from coming to the Senate floor for consideration.

“The Senate should function as the founders intended it to function, and as the country needs it to function, not simply as slow as the rules will allow it to function,” Reid said on the Senate floor.

Reid and McConnell also agreed that in this Congress and the next, neither will use a parliamentary force play to change the Senate rules through a simple majority vote, a promise that will require all significant rules changes to garner the support of two-thirds of senators voting and present.

The agreement means that as long as either Reid or McConnell is majority leader, the chamber will not resort to the so-called “constitutional” or “nuclear option,” invoking a procedural maneuver using a simple majority of the Senate to approve a change in certain procedures and rules.

“The Senate is governed by a delicate mix of rules, rights and responsibilities,” Reid said. “To that mix, we must add respect.”

The Senate adopted the changes to secret holds (S Res 28) by a vote of 92-4 [bipartisanship! ), clearing the 60-vote threshold needed for approval under the leaders’ agreement. The four no votes came from Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., Mike Lee, R-Utah and Rand Paul, R-Ky., all members of the new Senate Tea Party Caucus, plus Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

Senators also approved, 81-15, another standing order (S Res 29) to prevent senators from forcing the reading of legislation or an amendment if the text has been available for 72 hours. That change also required only 60 votes for approval.

Neither change is an official revision of Senate rules; such revisions require the support of two-thirds of senators present and voting, or 67 when all 100 senators are in the chamber.

The change in the holds procedure would require disclosure of the identity of an obstructionist senator within two days of the time the senator notifies his or her party leader of an intent to place a hold, down from the current six days after a hold is announced on the floor. {I thought secret holds STAYED secret, and nobody had to own up to them ever?] If the senator does not step forward publicly, the hold would be attributed to that member’s party leader.

“What’s different here is every hold will have a public owner and there will be consequences,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of the sponsors of the secret holds change. “People will be named.”

Senate Rules Chairman Charles E. Schumer of New York and ranking Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee have spearheaded weeks of negotiations between the parties, checking constantly with Reid and McConnell.

At this point, Reid said, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will take over drafting the legislation necessary to eliminate a requirement for Senate confirmation of hundreds of executive nominations.

The two leaders have prepared a colloquy for the Congressional Record that lays out their gentlemen’s agreement to allow more amendments and let legislation come up on the Senate floor more quickly.

http://www.congress.org/news/2011/01/28/senate_ends_secret_holds

In my opinion, this is really great news. This "secret hold" thing has been insane; it keeps offices from being filled by the incoming Prez and stopped legislation before it could even be considered. I like the amendment thing, too; each party should have the right to add amendments, at least have them discussed, if they're not incorporated, and no more "nuclear option"...at least for now.

It would be SO great if it stayed this way; a Senat which actually WORKS, rather than obstructing one another and getting paid for it; I'm all in favor of that!

The Dems tried to limit or get rid of the filibuster, which was rejected, too. That neither surprises nor upsets me, tho' I'd like the number to be lower than 60. Still, I don't think anyone believed they would eliminate or modify it, both parties like it too much:
Quote:

• S Res 8, defeated 12-84, which would reduce the number of votes needed to overcome filibusters.

• S Res 10, rejected 44-51, which would officially eliminate the use of filibusters to block legislation from coming to the Senate floor.

• S Res 21, defeated 46-49, which would force senators to continuously talk on the Senate floor if they want to filibuster legislation or nomination.

same

Tho' I admit, I'd love to see those who want to filibuster actually DO IT, rather than just threaten it. Sure, it would be more obstructionism and waste of time and money, but that's not much different from the way it is now...

All in all, I'm proud of the fuckers for finally doing SOMETHING right.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off





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Friday, January 28, 2011 5:41 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

I have this sense that someone must be pulling the wool over my eyes. It is rare that those who have power would willingly divest themselves of it.

The ability to secretly derail legislative attempts seems like a big deal.

--Anthony

Assured by friends that the signal-to-noise ratio has improved on this forum, I have disabled web filtering.

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Friday, January 28, 2011 5:55 PM

CHRISISALL


Monsanto is destroying our world with GMO. Who cares about the politicos at this point, Niki?

We're doomed.
DOOMED, I tell ya!!!

I mean, aren't we?


The laughing Chrisisall


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Saturday, January 29, 2011 4:57 AM

KANEMAN


The hold also allows a senator to slow things down, prolong a vote, and allow the American people and their reps to read bills. That way we can end the "pass it to find out what is in it", lame duck legislation, and parties from raming bills through. Call me crazy but I like our reps having the time to educate themselves on the laws they intend to vote on..for and against. But, I'm not an old pot smoking douchebag.

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Saturday, January 29, 2011 5:37 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I had to check to make sure this had TRULY passed. There was so much misinformation floating around about the filibuster (It's out! It's in!) that I had to be sure.

Finally. ACCOUNTABILITY in the Senate. Senators having to stand up and take responsibility for their actions. Isn't accountability all what the Republican Party is about?

But aside from that... As a Californian, I can tell you from experience that requiring a supermajority for anything has been dysfunctional. It holds everything hostage to the peeps who are three standard deviations from the norm. Nothing gets done. The whole idea of the filibuster needs to be scaled back.



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Saturday, January 29, 2011 5:40 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Quote:

Originally posted by kaneman:
The hold also allows a senator to slow things down, prolong a vote, and allow the American people and their reps to read bills. That way we can end the "pass it to find out what is in it", lame duck legislation, and parties from raming bills through. Call me crazy but I like our reps having the time to educate themselves on the laws they intend to vote on..for and against. But, I'm not an old pot smoking douchebag.



Hello,

No one ever accused you of smoking pot.

I think it's clear our representatives never read these bills in their entirety before, so I do not see any logic to your argument. The two phenomenon (the hold, and bill reading) are unrelated.

--Anthony

Assured by friends that the signal-to-noise ratio has improved on this forum, I have disabled web filtering.

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Sunday, January 30, 2011 9:29 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I admit I'm suspicious of this...these are the new "rules"; what's to stop anyone breaking the rules? It's not like they're "law", and some of them are even just AGREEMENTS. I sure hope it's all for real, but only time will tell, as with all the crap of politics.

As to the supermajority, "what Sig said". It has all but DESTROYED our state's ability to get anything done; it's absurd and I wish they'd lower the total, at the very least!


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off




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