The filibuster, a Senate rule requiring 60 votes to begin and end debate, is already on life support. The 2016 election could put the final nails in its coffin. In 2013, Sen. Harry Reid ended the supermajority requirement on judicial nominees (except for the Supreme Court), using a maneuver so controversial it was dubbed the…
Executives from Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile US, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Etsy, Zynga, and others have signed onto an open letter now including over 60 major CEOs and business leaders urging Missouri lawmakers to stop the discriminatory Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 39 from moving forward. SJR 39 would lead to a ballot measure that proposes to…
Eight senators in Missouri filibustered for a historic 39 hours to prevent a discriminatory religious exemption bill from moving forward in the legislature. SJ39 is a bill that would ask the voters of Missouri to amend their constitution to allow religious organizations and individuals to use their faith to legally justify refusing services and benefits…
Last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democrats changed the Senate, allowing a simple majority to end filibusters on most judicial nominations and executive appointees. To do so, they used what had become known as the “nuclear option,” interpreting the rules to mean that while 60 voters were needed to end a filibuster, only 51…
In 2010, political prognosticator Charlie Cook felt that Republicans might win back the Senate, unless they nominated far right candidates who would lose to moderate Democrats. As his prime example, Cook used Kentucky, where ophthalmologist Rand Paul was the Tea Party choice against the establishment favorite, Secretary of State Trey Grayson. (In Cook’s defense, this…
When Washington politicians give something a catchy name, it usually means one of two things: they want to confuse you, or they want to distract you. The now ubiquitous “Fiscal Cliff” does some of both. Cliffs are extant geographic features, left by God or erosion, beyond which is a fall to near certain death. Neither…
Senate GOPers successfully filibustered the confirmation of an ambassadorial nominee, because she penned a pro-LGBT editorial that was published in the Spanish-language Salvadoran newspaper, La Prensa Grafica, according to the Washington Blade. The Obama administration sought confirmation of Mari Carmen Aponte as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, but failed to secure her appointment after a…
