Harry Reid pulls the trigger on filibusters.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just moments ago announced that he will immediately file a cloture motion on the Reed-Levin troop redeployment bill and, if Republicans follow through with a filibuster, will place the Senate in a prolonged all-night session Tuesday to force a true continuation of debate.
“Now, Republicans are using a filibuster to block us from even voting on an amendment that could bring the war to a responsible end,” said Reid. “They are protecting the President rather than protecting our troops. They are denying us an up or down – yes or no – vote on the most important issue our country faces.”
Woot. Maybe he reads blogs.
The procedural details of Reid’s move remain a touch unclear to me – while it amuses me that he can use quorum calls to force the Pubs to filibuster the way we did in ye olden days, maybe a lawyer can explain what exactly happens when the 30 hours run out. The text of the relevant rule reads:
After no more than thirty hours of consideration of the measure, motion, or other matter on which cloture has been invoked, the Senate shall proceed, without any further debate on any question, to vote on the final disposition thereof to the exclusion of all amendments not then actually pending before the Senate at that time and to the exclusion of all motions, except a motion to table, or to reconsider and one quorum call on demand to establish the presence of a quorum (and motions required to establish a quorum) immediately before the final vote begins.
Does that mean that the coveted upprdown vote will definitely happen after thirty hours of debate, or am I missing something?
Even if Reid’s move amounts to a pointless stunt it has already put the GOP’s filibuster tic at the top of the news, which is where Republicans don’t want it. Reading the phone book for a day and a half won’t hold up the Senate any worse than Republicans already have done. The only difference is that now we can see whether they will still do it with the country watching.
***Update***
Needless to say, invoking Rule 22 moves the Jumpin’ Joe doomsday clock to roughly fifteen seconds before midnight. Historians can debate whether the minimal political consequences (Reid stays Majority Leader) outweigh the benefit of having the news media stop referring to Lieberman as a “petitioning Democrat,” “Independent Democrat” or any other kind of Democrat. Jump, Joe, Jump.
***Update 2***
As I now understand it Rule 22 doesn’t have all that much to do with an actual filibuster – Democrats will do all the talking while Republicans just sort of sit around and watch. I get the point; if you want to debate, let’s debate. Still, the optics of this don’t really work for me. To most people this could easily look like the Democrats forcing Republicans to sit around and be lectured to, sort-of in retaliation for Republicans invoking a filibuster.
I get the point that a real filibuster would probably end with a rhetorical defeat when Dems eventually tire of listening to Mitch McConnell talk. I also get that gumming up the Senate is what the Republicans want anyway. The basic problem is that with a filibuster Joe teevee consumer can turn on the tube, see some Republican reading from the phone book and he’ll come to the appropriate conclusion. Republicans want to hold up the Senate with a silly procedural move. Maybe he saw Mr. Smith when he was a kid.
Unlike a filibuster, here Joe consumer will see Democrats up front and, honestly, it won’t be that much of a stretch for him to think that maybe some of this Congressional logjam is the Dems’ fault. After all, it’s the Dems who won’t let the Congress go on with its business, right? Look at the podium and you see a Dem talking.
It’s a small point, about as fundamentally inconsequential as the stunt itself. But since the whole thing is theater I wish we could give better theater.
Jake
We’ll also see if The Deciderator discovers a new power that allows him to ban filibusters.
All snark aside, this is going to be fun, especially for insomniac C-SPAN addicts.
Mad props to the blogs on this one: So far only CNN has picked up on this.
Dungheap
My understanding is that under the rule quoted above, you first have to successfully invoke cloture to limit debate to thirty hours. The cloture vote won’t pass initially, so debate will continue until cloture is successfully invoked or Reid moves on to other business.
Then again, I don’t know shit from Shinola.
Paul L.
I remember when the Republicans were in the majority, Democrats used the “gentleman’s” filibuster. We on the right wanted the Senate Republicans to go back to the old style filibuster.
So good luck to Reid on bringing back the old style filibuster.
However when the shoe is on the other foot, just remember what goes around comes around.
Dave
Good for Reid. About time.
Of course blocking any and all legislation is exactly what they want to do.
Apparently if they have to share their ball, they just want to pick up and go home.
Tim F.
Paul,
You apparently have no idea of the difference between how often Democrats invoked the filibuster versus Republicans today. That’s okay, I didn’t expect that you would, but you should probably hold off from acting like then and now are in any way comparable.
Dave
I also remember the GOP screaming bloody murder and threatening to do away with the filibuster completely. I remember the GOP blocking debate, not allowing the Dems to bring bills or amendments to the table, holding votes open for 3 or 4 hours so they could strong arm others into voting for some random piece of legislation.
Upperdown vote!! Upperdown vote! In the 108th & 109th congresses combined there were FOUR filibusters. In so far there have been thirteen in the 110th.
Yeah the GOP…such saints in the company of those vicious rabid Dems! How dare they!
Zifnab
I assumed after 30 hours of debate they would re-vote on cloture, but I could be totally wrong. I mean, 30 hours would normally chew up at least a week of normal Senate hours. I like how Reid is getting this done in one day. I also like the idea of 60-year-old men having a slumber party in the Senate Chamber. For some reason that gives me a case of the warm fuzzies. Maybe we can lock the old bastards in their till they promise to sort out their differences and stop being putzes.
Chad N. Freude
Pointless. If they were to stop being putzes, it would only be to become schmucks.
Formerly Wu
Like how a caterpillar leaves it chrysalis as a beautiful butterfly!
Only with more schmucks.
Andrei
So I can only assume Paul L is the new Darrell? If so, he’s not nearly as funny.
Chad N. Freude
Not nearly as abusive either. But just as wrong-headed.
Dreggas
Senators enter the senate coatroom human and come out lying sacks of horse-shit.
Pb
I just saw something about this on CNN not too long ago–Dana Bash [the Democrats] was going on about how this was “pure politics” by the Democrats without even really explaining WTF was actually going on. Fortunately for me, I don’t rely on CNN for news, sheesh…
Andrei
To Tim’s second update. All true, but the Dems could do one thing that would make it more real for “Joe Consumer.” Start saying some fairly dramatic things directly to the GOP Senator’s face in front of the cameras and force GOP Senators to reply lest the give the soundbites to the Dems for the entirety of the stunt.
If the Dems do that — force a game of verbal chicken — with the GOP senators, they’d virtually make it as close to a publicized real debate as possible given the circumstances.
But that means the Dems have to play verbal hardball. We’re about to see if they have the stomach for it.
Doubting Thomas
Well Durbin’s doing a pretty good job of that so far.
Paul L.
Why read the phone book? How about transcripts of the Rush Limbaugh show, Rightwing blog entries, Daily Kos Cindy Sheehan Diaries, Unfit for Command or My Life by Bill Clinton with snarky comments?
I am guessing that our objections to the use of the filibuster is equal to whose ox is gored.
Democrats Playing Trump Card More Often
However I do remember the democrats screaming about “minority rights” and the sacred 100+ year tradition of the filibuster that the Senate must not break.
demimondian
So they did — and, right now, they’re saying that the Republicans absolutely have the right to filibuster if they want to do so. The only point is to make the filibusterers pay a political price for their actions — in this case, stabbing the troops in the back.
Doubting Thomas
Republicans are so much better at being the minority party than the Democrats were. Let’s keep it that way.
cleek
nobody’s “breaking” the filibuster. the Dems are merely returning the proper meaning to the word. this “60 votes to pass anything” Gentleman’s Filibuster is utter nonsense. you want to block legislation? make a fucking effort!
jake
Two cliches right in a row, I guess The Big Box o’ Jackalopes is empty.
Next up: Sports Analogy Bingo!
Chad N. Freude
Paul L is a master debater.
Re political theater: If we could only have Jimmy Stewart and Claude Raines …
demimondian
Sheesh. Not even bra and panties media knows the difference between John and Tim!
Has anybody ever seen them in the same room at the same time?
Cain
Are you saying John and Tim are one of the same? Who wears the underwear and cape?
cain
Dave
Oh man, that’s hysterical.
Rome Again
Oh Paul L, just go away, will you?
We’re still working on Democratic control based on the powers Georgy and Dickie are going to give the next president. Hope you’ll enjoy watching that!
Got news for you, after all the foul balls your side has sent over the net, it’s OUR turn now, not yours.
Joshua
This is why we lose, Rome Again. You only match them mixed metaphor for mixed metaphor instead of really going for the kill.
At the very least, your last sentence should have been
Joshua
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I swear I totally meant to screw up that blockquote. Adds to the charm.
Chad N. Freude
Nononono!!! We need Paul L as a cat needs a scratching post, as a dog needs a slipper, as Cheney needs an elderly hunting companion. Stay, Paul L, stay.
Rome Again
Sorry, TZ hasn’t taught me the rules of football yet ;)
I was playing tennis.
Rome Again
Why, to laugh as we swat him around?
Chad N. Freude
Exactly. Did you read the entire sentence?
Rome Again
Yes Chad, I read the entire sentence, but when pests appear, I like to spray them with pest killer, not laugh as I swat at them. I hear they breed if you don’t alleviate the population.
When a swarm of gnats invades your personal space, do you enjoy it? Perhaps we just don’t have that in common.
Chad N. Freude
I do when their logic is faulty and their facts are wrong. I think it’s fun playing Ninja Flyswatter. But if you want to spray your monitor with malathion, hey, that’s your thing.
demimondian
Hmm.
Rome, I don’t think that Paul is malignant or stupid. He’s vaguely amusing, and he does act as a good weather vane about what the next jackalope will be.
And besides, we have something better than dead blonde girls now — somebody’s posted EVERY PAGE OF POTTER SEVEN ONLINE. OMFG!!11!one!eleven
Rome Again
Well that’s true, I guess he can stay, for a while only.
Funny! Even more hilarous is that you actually get so amused about it.
Randolph Fritz
But most of us want a logjam, now. So maybe that can work.
Zifnab
Seriously, what’s the worst that can happen from a Congressional logjam? Not enough war supplementals get passed? Not enough bills get the filibuster threat? Not enough veto threats from El Prezidente? Why do we fear the logjam, again?
Virtue Lord Purple
There is no solution to the Iraq War. If Americans really want the war to end, and they truly care for their ‘Soldiers’, then they will immediately, without hesitation, cease and desist from driving their cars. Other than that, you have no one to blame but yourselves. Also, I have news for you folks. Bush is ‘The Leaker’.
In the Name of Brutus
Dames and Gents,
In times unprecedented and tinged with despair, it is appropriate to reflect on the founding of our great nation. It was not with George Washington, but with Brutus, and not the one who killed Caeser. There was another who rebelled against the tyrant monarchy of Rome, The Tarquins. He wrote the Roman Constitution that would stand for 500 years. His sons sided with the monarchy. The monarchy lost. So to punish his sons and found a perfect union, he immolated his own sons.
Machiavelli speaks fluently and voluminoulsy and voiciferously on this subject, in ‘The Discourses’, and yet is proved wrong on several counts by the miracle of America. He says that a nation founded in servitude, as America was a colony, will never win its freedom. He also says that a nation founded on fertile soil that is easily defended, will in time loose all of its freedoms because it will become, eventually, inevitably, sloth and sated, and will forget to protect them.
As regards ‘The DC Madam’, I am personally involved. You can view my involvement at http://www.maytheygetwhattheydeserve.com/KAT.html
Sometimes a mouse will lead you to a kat, and a kat can lead you to a rat and a rat, ironically, can lead you to the truth. And the truth, as they say, and as it is written, will set you free.
May all those who sincerely and patiently wait for freedom be free and may all those who desire to steal those freedoms find instead the dire consequences that accompany contempt for a great man like Brutus.
As regards Machiavelli,
eram sapiens tamen nefas
And again,
vox vocis publicus est vox vocis deus
May The Republic stand forever and bring the Glory Of The World, with Dignity, into Its Treasury.
Purple
Virtue
Tax Analyst
fixed…
tehehehe
Looks like the Dems will lose again. Don’t you just wish they would begin taking up legislation where they could forge a compromise and actually pass something? Like Social Security Reform (as the promised), or healthcare/Mediucare reform, or tax reform, or any of the other things they said they would do when they campaigned last summer? So far all they have done is pass legislation renaming post offices, and passing “non-binding” resolutions, and starting new “investigation” every day. No legislation that will help the country or the people. Just more stunts while tilting at windmills.
But is theater! If nothing else, it will help those nightowls that have trouble sleeping. Reid can say, “We did everything we could, but those Repugs ar blocking us.” How, with no more of a majority, was Bush able to get Congress to “rubber-stamp” his programs, but now the Dems say
Tax Analyst
Ya’ ever hear of the “veto”, you Ass-Hat? And while I am not quite thrilled at the Democrats at this point, I would hasten to remind you that most, if not all of that “rubber-stamping” was accomplished mostly due to “lack of oversight” by the people who are SUPPOSED to be doing it. The comparison is lame. There is little equivalency at this point. We are talking about less than 7 MONTHS as opposed to 6 YEARS, so come back in a couple years and see if anything has been accomplished or not. If nothing has been, well, then you can mouth off and be a wise-ass and I won’t have any complaint.