filibuster

McConnell Explores Weakening Filibuster

October 12, 2015 · 8:56 am ET · 54 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “is opening the door to changing the filibuster in response to growing pressure from Republicans angered that Democrats have blocked legislation from reaching the White House,” The Hill reports.

“McConnell has appointed a special task force to explore changes to the filibuster rule and other procedural hurdles — including whether to eliminate filibusters on motions to proceed to legislation. That’s a tactic the minority often uses to shut down a bill before amendments can be considered.”

Obama Supports Ending Filibuster in Senate

February 9, 2015 · 12:39 pm ET · 28 Comments

President Obama told Vox the U.S. Senate should eliminate the filibuster.

Said Obama: “Probably the one thing that we could change without a constitutional amendment that would make a difference here would be the elimination of the routine use of the filibuster in the Senate. 13 Because I think that does, in an era in which the parties are more polarized, it almost ensures greater gridlock and less clarity in terms of the positions of the parties. There’s nothing in the Constitution that requires it.”

McConnell Urges House Republicans To Be Realistic

January 15, 2015 · 2:56 pm ET · 35 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered a reality check to House Republicans, the Washington Examiner reports.

“House bills aren’t guaranteed to pass the Senate just because Republicans now control the chamber with 54 seats… McConnell cautioned the House GOP that the new Senate majority is limited in what it can accomplish by the filibuster. Almost any legislation that clears the Senate must garner 60 votes, meaning Democratic support will be required to move most bills. Republicans face an early test of this challenge with a Feb. 27 deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security.”

GOP Split on Return of Filibuster

December 9, 2014 · 8:15 am ET · 14 Comments

“Republicans are split over whether to change the Senate’s rules to allow filibusters on executive and judicial nominations,” The Hill reports.

Said Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): “I think it’s rank hypocrisy if we don’t. If we don’t, then disregard every bit of complaint that we made, not only after they did it but also during the campaign. I’m stunned that some people want to keep it.”

Will Republicans Go Nuclear?

November 25, 2014 · 7:33 am ET · 5 Comments

Politico looks at whether Republicans will revert “the Senate’s voting threshold back to 60 votes, or keep it at the simple majority set by Democrats’ unilateral ‘nuclear option.'”

“Republicans have not yet reached a consensus, with intense member-to-member discussions needed after the Thanksgiving holiday to settle a matter of great importance given the GOP’s sustained outrage following the Democratic gutting of the filibuster on nominations… The GOP has some breathing room with more than a month before they take the majority — but already consequential Cabinet-level nominations are piling up as an early test for how Republicans will wield their majority.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

November 16, 2014 · 9:37 am ET · 24 Comments

“We should not return to the old rule. We should teach those blunderheads that they made a big mistake. And we have the votes to stop bad judges if we want to.”

— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by Huffington Post, vowing to keep filibuster rules put in place by Democrats.

Orrin Hatch, Then and Now

November 8, 2014 · 8:59 am ET · 8 Comments

“We should get it back to where it was. You can see the destruction that has happened around here.”

— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by Politico in September, on re-establishing the judicial-nomination filibuster in the U.S. Senate.

“Simply put, if Republicans re-establish the judicial-nomination filibuster, it would remain in place only until the moment that a new Democratic majority decided that discarding the rule again would be useful.”

— Hatch, writing in the Wall Street Journal this week, arguing against reverting to the old filibuster rules.