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Hardball: Merkley on Filibuster (Original Post) Coyotl Nov 2012 OP
6 Democratic Senators need pushing xxxsdesdexxx Nov 2012 #1
Heitkamp is a YES Coyotl Nov 2012 #2
Here's a few articles davidpdx Nov 2012 #3
Good point: "Biden could break a 50-50 tie in Reid’s favor" Coyotl Nov 2012 #4
+1 nt ProudProgressiveNow Nov 2012 #6
I emailed Feinstein, maybe I will write a letter xxxsdesdexxx Nov 2012 #7
I can confirm all of the following will be "yes" votes... brooklynite Nov 2012 #5
Very good news now lets get Feinstein and Kerry on board xxxsdesdexxx Nov 2012 #8
These rule changes will work in favor of Democrats, whether in the majority OR annabanana Nov 2012 #9

xxxsdesdexxx

(213 posts)
1. 6 Democratic Senators need pushing
Tue Nov 27, 2012, 10:35 PM
Nov 2012
If we assume that all of the Democratic Senators who remain in the 113th Congress, who voted Yes to reform the filibuster in 112th Congress, will vote Yes. Then we begin with 39 Senators who will vote Yes for filibuster reform in the 113th Congress

Yes in the 112th Congress: 44

Akaka (D-HI)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Coons (D-DE)
Durbin (D-IL)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR))

Yes in the 112th Congress who will not be in the 113th Congress: 5

Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Conrad (D-ND)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Nelson (D-NE)

44 - 5 = 39

So we start out with 39.

Of those 5 who voted Yes in the 112th Congress that won't be in the 113th Congress, 4 of them will be replaced by Democratic Senators who are Likely Yes votes in the 113th Congress.

Yes - Akaka (D-HI).......... Likely Yes - Hirono (D-HI)
Yes - Bingaman (D-NM).......... Likely Yes - Heinrich (D-NM)
Yes - Conrad (D-ND).......... Likely Yes - Heitkamp (D-ND)
Yes - Lieberman (ID-CT).......... Likely Yes - Murphy (D-CT)

39 + 4 = 43

Those who voted No in the 112th Congress who were replaced by Likely Yes votes in the 113th Congress: 5

No - Brown (R-MA).......... Yes - Warren (D-MA)
No - Kohl (D-WI).......... Yes - Baldwin (D-WI)
No - Lugar (R-IN).......... Yes - Donnelly (D-IN)
No - Snowe (R-ME).......... Yes - King (I-ME)
No - Webb (D-VA).......... Yes - Kaine (D-VA)

43 + 5 = 48

Those who voted No in the 112th Congress who are Likely Yes vote in the 113th Congress: 1

No - Reid (D-NV).......... Yes - Reid (D-NV)

48 + 1 = 49

Democrats from the 112th Congress who voted No that remain in the 113th Congress

No - Baucus (D-MT)
No - Pryor (D-AR)
No - Reed (D-RI)

Democrats from the 112th Congress that Did not vote and who will be in the 113th Congress

Did not vote - Feinstein (D-CA)
Did not vote - Kerry (D-MA)
Did not vote - Inouye (D-HI)

Right now we are probably at 49 (unless one of those Yes votes changes to a No vote). Since we have 55 Democratic Senators (53 Democrats + 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats) we need 1 of those 6 -- preferably more -- to vote Yes. Not sure why Feinstein (D-CA), Kerry (D-MA), and Inouye (D-HI) did not vote. We need to make the public aware of the importance of Filibuster reform and those who voted for it, those who voted against it, and those who did not vote at all.

davidpdx

(22,000 posts)
3. Here's a few articles
Wed Nov 28, 2012, 07:07 AM
Nov 2012

On the new D's:

All seven Democratic senators-elect — Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Tim Kaine (Va.), Chris Murphy (Conn.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) — have pledged to support filibuster reform. Sen.-elect Angus King (I-Maine) made filibuster reform a central plank of his campaign.


On procedure:

Under the option, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) would send to the Senate desk a resolution changing the rules and ask for it to be adopted immediately. The parliamentarian would rule the request out of order and then the presiding chair — likely Vice President Biden — would affirm or ignore the parliamentarian’s ruling.

The Senate could then uphold Reid’s move to change the rules with a simple majority vote. Biden could break a 50-50 tie in Reid’s favor, meaning Udall and others backing filibuster reform only need 50 votes in the Senate to win.


So as along as we have 50 Biden could break the tie

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/267471-dems-short-on-votes-for-filibuster-reform

Feinstein is still on the fence

There is information at the bottom of the article to contact her office.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/21/1163781/-Diane-Feinstein-responds-on-filibuster-reform-She-still-needs-convincing

Kerry is still on the fence:

There is information in the article to contact his office.

http://bluemassgroup.com/2012/11/lets-all-give-john-kerry-a-call-shall-we-filibuster-reform-now/

I doubt Bacus, Prior and Reed will move. We essentially need 1 out of the 3 preferably 2 (Kerry, Feinstein and Inouye) or it's over.

I'm still looking into why Kerry, Feinstein, and Inouye didn't vote. Maybe they knew it was going down and didn't bother or were looking for political cover.

Edit: Inouye said in July he is a yes

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/58_13/Daniel-Inouye-Backs-Filibuster-Changes-216528-1.html?ET=rollcall:e13786:80050200a:&st=email&pos=eam

We still need to get Kerry and Feinstein on board in case someone flips at the last minute.

brooklynite

(94,624 posts)
5. I can confirm all of the following will be "yes" votes...
Wed Nov 28, 2012, 02:41 PM
Nov 2012

Hirono (D-HI)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Murphy (D-CT)
Warren (D-MA)
Baldwin (D-WI)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Kaine (D-VA)
Yes - Reid (D-NV)

....because I asked each of them during the campaign.

annabanana

(52,791 posts)
9. These rule changes will work in favor of Democrats, whether in the majority OR
Wed Nov 28, 2012, 11:05 PM
Nov 2012

in the minority!

Democratic policies are VASTLY more popular with the American people than Republican policies are. When the lights of the media shine on a "talking" filibuster, it will be easy to see who's being obstructionist, and who is standing up for the greatest number of Americans.

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