Frist takes aim at use of filibuster (Charlotte Observer)

Posted on Sat, Apr. 02, 2005

Frist takes aim at use of filibuster
Move to limit debate on nominees could give boost to presidential bid

JUDY HOLLAND
Hearst Newspapers


WASHINGTON - ...

...

Frist, R-Tenn., says if Democrats filibuster to block any of Bush's judicial nominees, he will use his GOP majority to change Senate rules so that only 51 senators would be needed to stop a filibuster on a judicial nomination.


During Bush's first term, Democrats filibustered and blocked 10 of his judicial nominees; the Senate confirmed 204 others.

...


If Frist moves to end these filibusters, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has threatened to bring Senate business to a halt, except for matters of national defense, homeland security and spending bills that fund the federal government.


Many Senate procedures such as bypassing the reading of bills, amendments and proclamations are quickly completed through "unanimous consent" -- the understood agreement of all 100 senators to waive time-consuming formalities. Without such agreements, a majority of Republicans would be forced to stay on the Senate floor for hours each day voting on a deluge of procedural issues.


...

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/11292780.htm

vote tally?

WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE "NUCLEAR OPTION"?

Frist needs 50 votes in favor of Cheney's new interpretation (with the tie-breaking vote to be provided by Cheney!).  Currently he has 49.  Of the 55 Senate Republicans, 6 have either stated flatly that they will not support the "nuclear option" or are still undecided.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050323-121608-8533r.htm

When contacting a Senator, I think it would be very effective to make a specific reference to something egregious by one of the nominees (from the info below) and ask the Senator if he or she supports this?  Wow, look at this blatant racism, or this payola - do you support this?  Give as much detail as you can.

Here's the list of the 6, and their contact information:

Undecided

Senator Susan Collins (R- ME)
202-224-2523
202-224-2693
http://collins.senate.gov/low/contactemail.htm

Senator John W. Warner (R- VA)
202-224-2023
202-224-6295
http://warner.senate.gov/contact/contactme.htm

Senator John McCain (R- AZ)
202-224-2235
202-228-2862
http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Contact.Home

Senator Chuck Hagel (R- NE)
202-224-4224
202-224-5213
http://hagel.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Contact

Opposed to the "Nuclear Option"

Senator Lincoln D. Chafee (R- RI)
202-224-2921
202-228-2853
http://chafee.senate.gov/webform.htm

Senator Olympia Snowe (R- ME)
202-224-5344
202-224-1946
Olympia@snowe.senate.gov

No comment thus far

Senator Thad Cochran (R- MS)
202-224-5054
202-224-9450
http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm

Senator John Sununu (R- NH)
202-224-2841
202-228-4131
mailbox@sununu.senate.gov

George V. Voinovich of Ohio
Senator George Voinovich (R- OH)
202-224-3353
202-228-1382
http://voinovich.senate.gov/contact/index.htm
________________

This is how I would set up a letter to the editor:

About the judges:


 Senate Republicans threatening to change the Senate rules to eliminate the use of the filibuster when debating judicial nominees, permitting them to ram extremist nominees through Congress based on a simple majority vote.

 About 95% of Bush's judicial nominees already approved.  Those that remain, however, are being opposed not because they are conservative, but because they represent the fringe of the extreme radical right and are out-of-step with mainstream America, threatening civil rights, the environment and the very integrity of the judicial system itself.

 For example .

 These nominees, as well as the others resubmitted by Bush, are poor candidates on their own merits, regardless of partisan politics, and do not deserve to be approved by the Senate.  


About the filibuster:


 If it is unconstitutional or unprecedented to filibuster judicial nominees, as some on the right have claimed, then why has the right used that very tactic in the past?  Even the Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist.....

 Democrats won the popular vote for the Senate (great info here:  http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/3/14/124043/336).  It is therefore incorrect to call their views the minority view.


________________

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/28/44159/0761



Two sites that have detailed information on the nominees:

Progress for America:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=14172

Alliance for Justice:
http://www.independentjudiciary.org/


________________

Opposed because they are on the radical edge, not because they are conservative

"It isn't that they are conservatives; it's that their records indicate a willingness to bypass the law to achieve an ideologically driven result."
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=11082

"...have spent their careers on the radical edge of the right wing"
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=11082

Links to talking points, sample letter and petition. I think we need to be out on the street with this one. Also links to online petitions, targeted senators, and Frist's phone and fax. This is more important than ANWR.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=661

situation facing us except war. This will change the US fundamentally and have been urging people to call and write their Senators. I don't see him going forward unless he feels he has the vote. Do you think any of the undecideds have capitulated to Frist?

:mad: :mad: :mad: :grr: :grr: :nuke: :nuke:

Strike back with all weapons at hand.

Last read somewhere he was on the fence.

Let's see if he has the courage to follow through- or whether he's just another cowardly Democrat.

Do far, he hasn't done one single thing to thwart the far right's agenda. Aside from mouthing off a few times, his record is a big fat zero.

http://capwiz.com/afj/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7106081

Later today, we'll have a petition that you can print and take out and get signatures. Even if you just get your neighbors and family. The point is to get the message out, get around the media. Check the web site, we've got a couple of things to finish before we get it all online.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog

we will fillibuster everything else. I like that attitude. :)

thanks harry:

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has threatened to bring Senate business to a halt, except for matters of national defense, homeland security and spending bills that fund the federal government.

Yay! the federal government is DEAD!

why except these things? why not go for the motherfucker's heart and shut ALL OF IT DOWN INCLUDING $ FOR HALLIBURTON!

GODAMMIT!

I've begun to love this guy!