Will Harry Reid Nuke The Senate?

[cali]

Let the jokes and derision begin. I'm like Lucy's football victims. I just keep hoping he'll do it.


DUCK AND COVER: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has set up a potentially “nuclear” showdown with Republicans over President Obama’s executive nominees for next week, ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ reports. Reid filed cloture Thursday on seven executive nominees, including Richard Cordray as the director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Thomas Perez as Secretary of Labor, and Regina McCarthy as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, setting up votes on the nominees for Tuesday. In a news conference after a Democratic caucus meeting, Reid said he is prepared to use the “nuclear option” should Republicans not agree to approve the seven nominees. Current rules require 67 votes to change Senate rules, but the Nevada senator’s move would allow for the change in Senate filibuster procedure with a simple majority of 51 votes. http://abcn.ws/15jF7Re

GOP COUNTERMEASURES: “[W]hat he’s really saying here is, he doesn’t want any debate at all in connection with presidential appointments. Just sit down, shut up, and rubber stamp everything, everyone the president sends up here,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor. “This is about trying to come up with excuses to break our commitments. What this is about is manufacturing a pretext for a power grab,” McConnell said. McConnell warned that invoking the “nuclear option” over the filibuster would tarnish Reid’s legacy as Senate majority leader. “If we don’t pull back from the brink here, my friend, the majority leader, is going to be remembered as the worst leader of the Senate ever,” McConnell said.

WHAT’S NEXT? Sen. Reid, D-Nev., said yesterday he would go to the floor of the Senate on Tuesday and “do what I need to do so this doesn’t happen anymore,” referring to the potential blocking of nominees. But before the chamber considers the nominees, ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ reports that all 100 senators will meet Monday evening in the Old Senate Chamber for a rare special closed door caucus meeting to discuss the filibuster rules.

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http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/07/will-harry-reid-nuke-the-senate-the-note/

[Autumn]

1. Who knows? I'm of the opinion that he would give those fuckers mouth to mouth

resuscitation.

[cali]

3. and if he does go for it, can he even get 51 votes?

He won't go for it unless he's sure of those votes.

[Autumn]

4. I don't know cali and that's sad because he should be able to

get the 51 votes.

[BlueStreak]

13. He has the 49 he needs (plus himself and Biden), but only if

he wusses out and goes for the minimum rull humanly conceivable. Any more and he loses votes from the spineless DINOs in his caucus.

[Enrique]

2. he's waiting to see how the 2014 elections look

if it looks like the dems will lose the Senate, he will nuke it so he has an excuse for not filibustering GOP bills.

[BlueStreak]

5. It is all about the votes

He needs 49 plus himself plus Biden to pass a rules change.

He has never had the 49 because of the weak-kneed, spineless people in the Dem caucus. He now has 49 votes for the very limited purpose of forcing the GOP to let a half-dozen appoints through to a vote. There will be no vote to change the rules. Everybody knows that. There will be a negotiated settlement on Monday evening. It is a game of "chicken". The GOP is waiting until the last possible instant to veer away.

Then we have to start the same damn thing all over again for director of ATF and the District Court. So that will be another 8 weeks probably.

Obviously Reid would have bundled all of that together if the assholes in his caucus would have given him that much support. He can only do what the DINOs in his caucus will back him to do. And as a leader, he has never demonstrated any willingness or ability to bust some balls to get his people in line.

He needs to get his chamber in order. We still have one huge appointment left under Obama, and that is the replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsberg. If they let this slip too far, that could prove to be a huge tactical blunder. She should resign no later than the end of next year's term to make sure her replacement will be confirmed under Obama.

[Autumn]

15. Obviously what we need to do is elect more blue dogs for the spineless Dem caucus

and the problem Harry has goes away.

[BlueStreak]

17. Not sure I follow. If there were more blue dogs ...

Reid would not have his 49 votes and would be unable to do anything, not even the very minimal action he is planning for next Tuesday.

[Autumn]

18. Yeah it is confusing isn't it.

I get confused when people tell me we must vote for blue dogs because they are better than republicans, when for some reason blue dogs give us the same policies as normal republicans, if there were such a thing as normal republicans.

Forgive me. I'm just rambling along on all this madness as to how those damn republicans can call the shots when it's so clear that everything they do is so destructive.

[BlueStreak]

19. They can call the shots because there are at least 10-15 Dems who are 95% with them

[Orsino]

6. I really, really believe him this time!

Really.

[BlueStreak]

8. No way it goes to a vote.

The GOP will cut a deal that is good only for the current set of appointments and Reid will take it. That is undoubtedly the understanding he has with the last 3 or 4 Dems he got in line. And this is why Reid drew a very limited line in the sand for next week -- only a handful of appointments --not the most crucial ones that are hanging out there.

So the GOP will cut a deal for those specific cases -- and Reid will probably have to give up something important just to get that deal. But without that kabuki theater, he wouldn't have the last 5 or 6 DINOs even halfway on board to support him.

SO with regard to those Federal judges that are still hanging, that will require another showdown another day. That's just how they old white men in the Senate like it.

[cali]

9. lol. trying to make me look like even more of a sucker than I am?

[Orsino]

12. You and me both.

I'm enough of a sucker to believe it might come to a vote this time around.

I'm stupid that way.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

7. My first thought was...

...of Lucy pulling the ball away as Charlie Brown goes to kick it.

So you had it right coming out of the gate with your OP.

[1-Old-Man]

10. No, I do not think that Harry Reid will do jack shit.

Just look back, the spineless bastard has a track record.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

11. Let's wait until after 2014 to find out.

[winter is coming]

14. Nope. n/t

[UserNSAv32]

16. BAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No Harry like many in what is called Democratic Party Leadership Today is all talk and no action. Americans don't like weakness when power is given and the Democratic Party is going to pay a heavy price becsuse of Harrys inaction.