Archive for category Mitch McConnell
GOP = Guns Over People
Posted by Richard Warnick in American People, Barack Obama, Gun Control, Mitch McConnell, National Politics, Republicans on April 8, 2013
The latest national survey from Quinnipiac University confirmed something that’s been widely evident in the months since the massacre in Newtown, Conn.: Support for universal background checks is pretty much, well, universal. According to the poll, 91 percent of American voters support background checks for all gun buyers, while a mere 8 percent said they are opposed. The poll also showed 88 percent of gun owners in favor of universal background checks…
Today two things happened:
(1) President Obama eloquently made the case for gun safety legislation that is overwhelmingly popular with the American people.
(2) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared that he would not allow any such legislation to be debated or voted on in the U.S. Senate.
UPDATE: RUNNING AWAY: Backers Of Gun Filibuster Duck Interview Requests. Cowardly is the only way to describe this.
Are Senate Republicans Trying to Force a Constitutional Crisis?
Posted by Glenden Brown in Mitch McConnell, Republicans, This Blog on February 4, 2013
Brother Benen suggests as much:
What we’re talking about here is a shrinking Senate minority pursuing a nullification strategy — they want to nullify federal law by abusing procedural tactics in a way that’s literally never been done in the United States.
If Senate Republicans want changes to the CFPB, there’s already a mechanism in place that allows them to pursue reforms: it’s called the existing legislative process. Senators can write a bill, send it to committee, try to persuade their colleagues of the proposal’s merit, debate it on the floor, vote for it, etc.
But that takes time and effort, and it might not work, especially since the changes the GOP wants are absurd. So, instead, Republicans intend to block existing federal law from taking effect unless Democrats accept changes demanded by financial industry lobbyists.
This is crazy. The Republican message, in a nutshell, is this: “Weaken consumer protections or we’ll use filibusters to block the executive branch from enforcing existing federal law.” Our system of government simply can’t work this way.
Republicans are trying to deliberately crash our constitutional system so they can then argue “See government doesn’t work.” It’s insane. It’s like someone who never sets foot in a gym declaring exercise has no positive benefits.
‘A Moment in Senate History’
Posted by Richard Warnick in congress, Democracy, Mitch McConnell, National Politics, Party Politics, Republicans on December 6, 2012
Just not a good moment. The Senate reached the height of dysfunction today when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell filibustered his own bill.
Today, the United States Senate hit a new low. This morning, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced a bill to reform the debt limit charade so that the president could spend money authorized and appropriated by Congress as long as the Congress didn’t vote by two-thirds to prohibit him from borrowing the money necessary to conduct United States operations at home and abroad. This would eliminate the absurdity — and economic damage — done last summer when the Congress held the debt limit hostage in budget negotiations.
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate Majority Leader then decided to let the bill come to a vote this afternoon. To which Senator McConnell objected, calling for a 60-vote threshold to pass the bill.
He filibustered his own bill.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked the parliamentarian to determine if this has ever happened before, but it couldn’t happen at a better time as the Senate prepares to reform (or eliminate!) the filibuster. This craziness, as demonstrated by McConnell’s absurd pretzel logic on the floor today, must end.
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