Changing the Senate rules to make it easier to confirm the administration’s nominees was a necessary but insufficient reform:
Judicial nominees that get voted out of committee still face a lengthy backlog on the Senate floor.
People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group, estimates [Majority Leader Harry] Reid may have to burn up 204 hours of floor time to overcome Republican dilatory tactics and clear the 32 nominees pending on the floor.
While the nominees will certainly pass if they come up for a vote, “Senate rules allow the minority to insist that the Senate devote time to needless ‘post-cloture debate’ before final confirmation,” People for the American Way wrote on its website Thursday.
There are 96 judicial vacancies on the nation’s federal courts and 38 of them are considered judicial emergencies, according to the group.
“If this keeps up, Democrats will be left with no alternative but to explore additional reforms to Senate rules and committee procedures in order to break the logjam,” said Michelle Schwartz, director of justice programs at Alliance for Justice.
And, of course, the Senate just failed to extend unemployment benefits even though 59% of the body supported the measure. There is a lot of debate about whether or not the Republicans can seize control of the Senate in the upcoming midterms, and that prospect worries Democrats who are contemplating further reforms that would weaken the minority party, but things are not going to get better if they do nothing. We are squandering a Democratic presidency, and impotence is not a great electoral selling point.
And, of course, the Us senate just did not improve lack of employment advantages even though 59% of the body reinforced the evaluate. There is a lot of discussion about whether or not the Conservatives can take control of the Us senate in the future midterms, and that probability problems Dems who are thinking about further changes that would damage the community celebration, but things are not going to get better if they do nothing. We are wasting a Democratic obama administration, and erection problems is not a great electoral promoting feature.
Spybubble Gratis
Moral Monday is organizing a Moral Freedom Summer for voter registration. It’s been 50 years. Folks who have been disenfranchised before should not have to go through this shit again. But I think that we will go through again together and be stronger for it.
And if we in the South succeed in in this, the politicians elected this year, whether Democratic or Republican will have to have a different position. That is why there was a local media blackout of the fact that 80,000 people turned out in Raleigh on Saturday to answer Rev. Barber’s call. People from Boone to Wilmington. And a huge Planned Parenthood delegation from all over the state were standing up for women’s health.
And it was an occasion for the progressive religious to show up in force. Unitarians, some of the Baptist churches that historically were active in the civil rights and marriage equality movement, a number of UCC and Presbyterian churches had delegations.
I’m thinking that we will keep the Senate, but will the Senators that are elected or re-elected keep their promises to the people who will expend extraordinary effort to enlarge the registration base and protect the vote from voter ID, voter challenges, and voter intimidation? This is the Democratic Party’s 1964 moment all over again; they failed last time to seize the moment and we’ve paid for it for 50 years.
keep us informed, especially because of the local media blackout.
You know I will.
Finally, a link to 200 pix from the News and Observer.
The people who decide elections are people like my sister – who doesn’t pay attention day to day because she “can’t do anything about it anyway, so what’s the point”.
Tell her that, even with a majority in the senate, we can’t do anything about her house being underwater and we can’t do anything about the crappy minimum wage, she’s going to think it doesn’t matter who’s in charge.
Tell her that the big, bad Democrats changed some rules (!) and did something about her mortgage situation and gave her minimum wage, she’s not going to give a shit about some rule change, she will vote for the party that solved some of her financial issues.
I find myself thinking of the quote: “The best time to plant an oak tree was a hundred years ago; the second best time is today.”
Democrats, today is your day to step up.
204 hours is 8-1/2 days. I say that Reid should just schedule them all back to back and keep the Senate in session continuously until the backlog is gone.
Somewhere around day 4 or 5, the Republicans would get tired of the charade and reach an agreement for package votes.