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Reid Prepares To Go "Nuclear", End Nomination Filibusters

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Frustrated by constant republican opposition to pass Obama candidate nominations, Harry Reid may finally invoke the "nuclear option" and end the GOP's ability to filibuster nominees. Politico reports that this may take place as soon as today. Politico reports: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may move toward a historic change in the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster on most nominations as soon as Thursday, according to senior Democratic aides. Reid is strongly considering calling up one in a group of blocked nominees to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for another round of votes, furious that Republicans have thwarted the nominations of Robert Wilkins, Nina Pillard and Patricia Millette. If a second go-round fails on that judicial pick, Reid would likely unilaterally move to change the rules of the Senate by a majority vote — the “nuclear option,” Senate sources said." This is not the first time Reid has threatened to go nuclear: "Privately, Senate Democratic leaders insist they prefer confirmation of Obama’s nominees rather than a rules change. And lawmakers have been at this point before." However, it appears that this time he means business.

Bloomberg adds some additional quotes from the Nevada Senator for color:

  • REID SAYS `AMERICAN PEOPLE BELIEVE CONGRESS IS BROKEN'
  • REID SAYS HE AGREES THAT SENATE IS BROKEN
  • REID SAYS OBSTRUCTION OF NOMINEES `UNPRECEDENTED'
  • REID SAYS CONFIRMATION OF NOMINEES IS `UNWORKABLE'

What happens next:

The rules change being discussed among top Democrats would eliminate filibusters on all executive nominees as well as all judicial nominees, except those to the Supreme Court. Such a rules change would pave the path toward smoother confirmation for two more key Obama nominees: Janet Yellen to lead the Federal Reserve and Jeh Johnson to helm the Department of Homeland Security.

Still, Reid's strategy may backfire if and when the republicans regain majority of the Senate:

Republicans are publicly warning that the change would simply be a path to eliminating the filibuster on everything, even on legislation — which would mean when the GOP takes the majority, Democrats will regret pushing the nuke button.

 

“You always have to take it seriously. I just think it would be incredibly short-sighted,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Republican whip. “It just seems to be something they keep coming back to when [Democrats] don’t get their way.”

Then again, since Congress long lost control of a nation whose entire future hangs in the balance of the daily S&P closing print, what Reid or his peers do, is largely irrelevant, especially since Mr. Chairwoman just got the green light to get to work and make Congress even more irrelevant.

 

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Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:48 | 4177360 Capitalist
Capitalist's picture

Who gives a shit, they don't even follow the Constitution. Just get Obama to pass every law he wants with an Executive Order.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:49 | 4177370 Dear Infinity
Dear Infinity's picture

Reid should know better than to use this kind of vernacular in this day and age!

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:51 | 4177376 Pladizow
Pladizow's picture

How much better would the world be without Washington?

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:55 | 4177396 gmrpeabody
gmrpeabody's picture

How many fingers is he holding up...?

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:00 | 4177421 Say What Again
Say What Again's picture

#AskReid

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:36 | 4177574 onewayticket2
onewayticket2's picture

these nominees stack the deck in DC where Obamacare lawsuits are heard....still think obamacare is about healthcare?

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:40 | 4177592 Vampyroteuthis ...
Vampyroteuthis infernalis's picture

And why would we want to hear objections to the idiots they are nominating? The simple fact they are not qualified?

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 17:17 | 4178909 SafelyGraze
SafelyGraze's picture

#AskReid

that was nice, mister Say What (if that is your real name)

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:51 | 4177381 Stackers
Stackers's picture

Government: Not winning the game ? Simply change the rules. Easy.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:00 | 4177426 kralizec
kralizec's picture

America needs to go nuclear on progressives regardless the little letter after their damned name!

It's between fascism or freedom, tyranny or liberty, slavery and death or standing up and kicking ass!

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 19:15 | 4179241 11b40
11b40's picture

Here's a great idea.  Let's turn it over to the "conservatives" so we can spend all our time looking up women's skirts, waging a war on drugs, and any other social issue so long nothing really constructive gets done.

Or, we could watch the neo-cons shuffle back in and get us some real shoot-um up wars.

Grow up and realize these labels are meaningless distractions for mental midgets.  Divide & conquer are quite effective.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:03 | 4177432 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Banksters: "Democracy, genuinely Representative Government and Gold... What barbaric relics."

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:47 | 4177363 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

What goes around will come around, you S.O.B. Harry Reid.  One day the D-Team will no longer run the Senate.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:57 | 4177415 icanhasbailout
icanhasbailout's picture

I remember when the Dems invented this form of leveraging a minority in the Senate through party-line bloc voting. It wasn't at all normal until it became the Dem's only way to keep a toehold on the levers of power under the unified GOP government last decade.

 

A Democrat is someone who absolutely can't stand the taste of his own medicine.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:59 | 4177420 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Yes.  The wheel will turn, the R-Team will have their turn.  Maybe the R-Team will do unto them as they were done to by the D-Team.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:06 | 4177442 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

I once cared until I figured out that this is all theater.   If you get rid of the Fillibuster, it will help cut down the length of the poorly written play.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:50 | 4177643 Zadig
Zadig's picture

Yes, it's just the second part of panem et circenses.  Nothing will change regardless of the outcome. 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:42 | 4177603 Zadig
Zadig's picture

It'll be more "do unto us" (the serfs) instead of "do unto them" (their fellow looters).  They'll still play golf together. 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:00 | 4177425 Bearhug Bernanke
Bearhug Bernanke's picture

D-Team, R-Team, ALL THE SAME TEAM.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:48 | 4177630 viator
viator's picture

Not according to gOd.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:55 | 4177679 Nels
Nels's picture

If the Republicans had the backbone of a jellyfish, then what goes around would come around.

But remember what happened when the Senate was split 50/50, with a Republican Vice President to make the difference?  The Senate Republicans decided to run things 50/50 in a spirit of comity.

The Senate Republicans, should they ever be in the majority again, will put the old rules back in place because of 'principle'.  The principle being that they want the Democratic media to like them.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:49 | 4177368 NOTW777
NOTW777's picture

deliver us from evil

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:58 | 4177418 Say What Again
Say What Again's picture

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

 

Sorry -- I couldn't resist

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:17 | 4177487 asteroids
Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:49 | 4177373 Bosch
Bosch's picture

Reid on Senate Floor in 2005: 

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/05/18/097/40350/otherpolitics/Sen-Harry-Reid-s-Filibuster-Floor-Speech 

 

"Mr. President, the filibuster is a critical tool in keeping the majority in check." 

 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:58 | 4177414 Bosch
Bosch's picture

McConnell respondes to Reid by talking about...0bamacare.   

Gold. 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:00 | 4177716 Zadig
Zadig's picture

That's excellent.  It can't be any clearer that he's a self-serving hypocrite.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:51 | 4177375 Quant Jockey
Quant Jockey's picture

As a former Nevadan, I would like to take this opportunity to appologize to the rest of the nation for inflicting Harry Reid on the American public.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:52 | 4177384 Joe Davola
Joe Davola's picture

No biggie, if it wasn't him it'd be some other dickweed.  It may actually be better it's him, since he's such a warm and fuzzy feller.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:56 | 4177408 Bosch
Bosch's picture

You're close enough to California to expect to catch more than an insignificant amount of retardation from them. 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:53 | 4177388 Cdad
Cdad's picture

Yeah...there is too damn much democratic process going on in the Senate.  LOL!  One of the most corrupt institutions on the face of the planet...and maybe about to get worse.

Brilliant!

 

 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:54 | 4177393 One And Only
One And Only's picture

Yes Reid has gone nuclear. Destroying everything in America he comes across.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:55 | 4177395 Dr. Venkman
Dr. Venkman's picture

What stops them from reinstating the filibuster if they lose the Senate next election? You think John McCain and Mitch McConnell will have the balls to re-eliminate during the new term? Most republican Senators have been neutered or are on the same big gov team.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:56 | 4177411 gmrpeabody
gmrpeabody's picture

Sadly true.., eh?

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:06 | 4177440 Anglo Hondo
Anglo Hondo's picture

John McCain is a Republican?  I could never have guessed.

 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:12 | 4177469 Cdad
Cdad's picture

Yes...they are all on the same team in the Senate.  For decades now, all Senate deals are done in dark rooms with various corporate constituencies.  The votes on various measures are determined there...not on the floor of the Senate.

The Senate leads in absolute corruption.  The House leads in terms of the level to which they have voluntarily made themselves irrelevant within the Republic.  And the Presidency, of course, leads in terms of purely Unconstitutional actions.

It's broken...all of it...each part in its own way.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:56 | 4177404 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Part of the E-team ( E for evil) , Pelosi and Reid. Trash the constitution and adopt their socialist set of rules.

They pushed through Obamacare. Hows that working out?

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 11:59 | 4177424 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Send Congress home and the money saved can buy the new Emperor for Life Obunga a bald eagle cape and a throne made from poached ivory.

I'm sure he'd like Wayne LaPierre's skull on his scepter.

 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:02 | 4177430 NIHILIST CIPHER
NIHILIST CIPHER's picture

I'm long Ropes and Lamposts .

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:03 | 4177433 orangegeek
orangegeek's picture

Fuck you Harry Reid.  Hurry up and die you fucking pig.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:03 | 4177434 Gold N Glocks
Gold N Glocks's picture

Drink bleach Harry.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:16 | 4177483 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

So Reid can go nuclear, but Iran can not.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:20 | 4177499 vote_libertaria...
vote_libertarian_party's picture

Interesting that the rule change occurs when Wall Street is about to get nuked (Audit the Fed law gets a vote?.....not so fast).

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:25 | 4177520 Seize Mars
Seize Mars's picture

Harry Reid, ratfuck scumbag "Mr. Clean" for Las Vegas low lives, including but not limited to Steve Wynn (not his real name).

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:37 | 4177581 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

No member of the tribe would EVAR change their name to avoid detection.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:35 | 4177564 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

Reid would do well to remember that he maybe castrating his own party when the Republicans get control of the Senate.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:37 | 4177578 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

Wished someone would take the nuclear option on Reid.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:44 | 4177612 squid427
squid427's picture

I'm all for nuking D.C, I wish I had a bumper sticker that said that

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:45 | 4177618 viator
viator's picture

He's telling us we're number one.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:51 | 4177655 RobCrash
RobCrash's picture

Queen Bammy rules by EDICT anyway...

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:51 | 4177658 Atlantis Consigliore
Atlantis Consigliore's picture

boycott Vegas,  starve em out in Nevada, and Collifornia too.

start national boycotts. blue states, Illinois,  and the crooks in Obamaland.

 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 12:56 | 4177686 sbenard
sbenard's picture

And THIS is what tyranny looks like!

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:06 | 4177742 giorgioorwell
giorgioorwell's picture

Oh the irony

Demo's playing by Republican rules now...or as a Republican spokesperson just complained on the radio "this is a raw power grab"...."and is designed to put people in positions that will take favorable positions"...oh really

 

 

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:09 | 4177761 JR
JR's picture

Harry Reid, perhaps even not honestly elected after revelations of voting machine scandals, carries water for America’s despots.

He’s a trickster and a liar and that’s the least of it. To think congressional actions depend on men like this  - and Mitch McConnell on the other side of the aisle - is to understand exactly why the United States faces the biggest crisis in her history.

To vote with Reid requires a Senate of fools.

Harry Reid's Son in Charge of Nevada Voting Machines Used in Fraud | October 29, 2010

What could be worse than putting Nevada voting machines under the control of Obama's hyperpartisan friends at the SEIU? How about putting them under the control of Harry Reid's son?... 

El Rushbo explains what this means:

This is Mark Hemingway in the Washington Examiner: "Clark County is where three quarters of Nevada's residents and live and where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's son Rory is a county commissioner." That means that Harry Reid's son is the person in charge of overseeing the election machines that are being maintained by the SEIU. Now, why would Rory Reid be suspected of any shenanigans here? But he is. "Since early voting started, there have been credible reports that voting machines in Clark County, Nevada are automatically checking Harry Reid's name on the ballot."

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/10/harry-reids-son.html

MinutemenNews.com reported: “PolitiChicks.tv has just received confirmation that a voter in Las Vegas tried voting for Governor Mitt Romney but the machine automatically checked “Obama” multiple times instead.”
Read more at http://minutemennews.com/2012/10/absurd-nevada-voting-machine-auto-selecting-obama/#0d7R88u7fS6HdUB4.99

Infowars elaborates:

Did Harry Reid Steal Nevada? | Nov 3, 2010

A serious investigation into potential vote fraud needs to be launched immediately in Nevada, after incumbent Harry Reid beat Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle by a clear five points, despite pre-election polls showing Angle four points ahead, amidst suspicious evidence of vote flipping and other dirty tricks on behalf of the Reid campaign last week that were dubbed “criminal” by Angle’s campaign attorney.

Angle clearly had the momentum going into the election, having come from behind to take the lead over the Senate majority leader.

Four separate Rasmussen polls prior to the election had Angle ahead. Two weeks before Super Tuesday, she held a 50% to 47% lead over Reid. One week prior to voting, on October 26, her lead was extended to four points, with Angle at 49% and Reid at 45%.

The race was tight, but surveys clearly showed that Angle was gradually extending her lead as each week went by.

To have a nine point swing, from Angle enjoying a four point lead just a week before the election, to Reid winning the seat by a clear five points, is highly suspicious, especially given the chicanery that came to light just last week. Nine points is not within the margin of error for polls, especially those conducted by Rasmussen, which is considered to be one of if not the most credible polling agency.

When early voting started last week, reports out of Clark County, home to three quarters of Nevada residents, indicated that electronic voting machines were automatically checking Harry Reid’s name on the ballot.

The technicians that serviced those electronic voting machines were the pro-Reid SEIU (Service Employees International Union), the same corrupt union that was behind thousands of bogus voter registrations across the nation. The SEIU spent $44 million during this election cycle, nearly all of which went to Democrats.

“White House political director Patrick Gaspard is formerly the SEIU’s top lobbyist, and former SEIU president Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor to the White House last year,” adds the Gateway Pundit.

Furthermore, the county commissioner for Clark County is none other than Harry Reid’s son Rory.

In response to the allegations, as well as Reid’s offer of free food and gift cards for people who voted, a move some slammed as bribery, Angle campaign attorney Cleta Mitchell wrote in a fundraising letter that Reid intended to “steal this election if he can’t win it outright”.

“As a result, we need to deploy literally dozens of election law attorneys and poll watchers to combat these tactics at a cost of nearly $80,000,” wrote Mitchell, “That’s over and above our current budget. We need to raise $80,000 and we need to do it RIGHT NOW, because even as I am writing this, Harry Reid and his Machine are trying to steal this election,” adding that the Reid campaign was engaged in “dirty tricks and criminal tactics”.

“When the powerful are threatened, they will do anything to retain their position,” concluded Mitchell.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire – we have evidence of vote tampering before the election and low and behold, establishment candidate Reid manages to pull a 9 point turnaround to save his seat using the electronic voting machines controlled by his own son and serviced by corrupt union members loyal to him.

 

http://www.infowars.com/did-harry-reid-steal-nevada/

A Boulder City, Nevada, voter, Joyce Ferrara, said when she went to vote for Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid’s name was already checked. She said her husband and several others voting at the same time all had the same thing happen: “Something’s not right,” Ferrara said. “One person that’s a fluke. Two, that’s strange. But several within a five minute period of time – that’s wrong.” (michellemalkin.com 2010/10/26)

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:35 | 4177928 smartstrike
smartstrike's picture

You are nuts if you think Nevadans would have voted for Sharon Angle! In the next election cycle, Nevada will be become indistinguishable from California all Democratic voting pattern.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:10 | 4177764 Randoom Thought
Randoom Thought's picture

Of course Harry the Fraud will use the required process to amend the constitution to get his personal petty rule change through.

I am thinking that he is forgetting that the rules as they exist were put there so that there would be a balance of powers and no petty dictator or him minions could userp the power of the legitimate government. While it might be to late for this, thank God there are some people making it difficult for petty parasitic psychopathic dictators to get the petulant way.

Fri, 11/22/2013 - 13:38 | 4181361 11b40
11b40's picture

For the sake of honesty, there is nothing in the Constitution about filibustering.  Filibustering was added later to the rules of the Senate, and they have been ammended multiple times through the years.  Once rarely used, almost half of all filibusters in the nations history have been used against Obama.  If you keep poking a snake with a stick, you shouldn't be surprised when you get bit.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:19 | 4177820 JR
JR's picture

From NBC's Ken Strickland

“After criticizing Republican leaders yesterday for having a secret, closed-door meeting with Wall Street executives, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today (April 20, 2010) faced his own questions about a fundraiser he attended this year hosted by the president of Goldman Sachs.

“Asked by reporters to confirm his attendance and how it played into the debate over financial regulatory reform, Reid didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he read from what appeared to be prepared remarks, touting his reform efforts.

"’I'm leading the effort to rein in Wall Street,’ he said at his weekly on-camera news conference. ‘I'm going to make sure that in this legislation I do everything within my ability to make sure that banks aren't too big to fail.’" ..

“When news of Reid's Goldman Sachs fundraiser was circulated yesterday, NRSC spokesman Brain Walsh said, ‘One can only presume that Sen. Reid will be return these donations immediately.’ Today, Manley said the majority leader plans to keep the money.”

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2010/04/20/4432273-reid-dodges-questions-on-goldman

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:23 | 4177857 TheMeatTrapper
TheMeatTrapper's picture

I prefer that Washington adopt the Fukushima option.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:46 | 4177998 HedgeFun
HedgeFun's picture

From Widipedia on Harry Reid's even temperment:

Reid served as chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission from 1977 to 1981. When Jack Gordon, LaToya Jackson's future agent and husband, offered Reid a $12,000 bribe to approve new games for casinos, Reid brought in the FBI to tape Gordon's bribery attempt and arrest him. After FBI agents interrupted the transaction, as prearranged, Reid lost his temper and began choking Gordon, saying "You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me!"

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 16:11 | 4178675 JR
JR's picture

The flaring of anger here only means the bribe wasn’t big enough for a man with his fingers on the power. It was an insult to Harry.

You don’t get to be the leader of arguably the most fraudulent, insensitive, anti-capitallist group of senators ever assembled by being anti-bribe.

Harry Reid is a crook, a fraud and a liar.

The good news is, Harry is playing his last card. By playing the nuclear card, the politicians are showing thier desperation on being able to get anything accomplished... because America is turning against them.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 13:58 | 4178046 BigRedRider
BigRedRider's picture

The Senate just approved motion to change filibuster rules 52-48

 

Let them eat cake!  Now they're voting in all the liberal left wing judges that will support Obama.

 

Oh the humanity!!

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 14:07 | 4178091 Watauga
Watauga's picture

"Frustrated by constant republican opposition to pass Obama candidate nominations. . ."

Seriously?  ZH relies upon POLITICO for reporting on the actions of Congress?  

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 14:10 | 4178111 Your Creator
Your Creator's picture

I just pray for their demise.  Bye bye Harry Scum Reid.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 14:22 | 4178166 Goggles Pisano
Goggles Pisano's picture

Think about how sick your society has to be to elect a skid mark like this guy.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 14:22 | 4178167 Goggles Pisano
Goggles Pisano's picture

Think about how sick your society has to be to elect a skid mark like this guy.

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