GOP Senators Call For NEW 75-80 VOTE SUPERFILIBUSTER Standard On Health Reform

Source: Think Progress

Speaking on Fox News last night, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) claimed that health care reform should not happen because it doesn’t enjoy “bipartisan” support, adding that a bill cannot be bipartisan unless it garners “somewhere between 75 and 80 votes.”


Hatch is hardly the only conservative senator to float a 75-80 vote supermajority requirement for health reform. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is currently blocking attempts to fix the health care system, told the Washington Post that “e ought to be focusing on getting 80 votes.” Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) demanded “a bill that 75 or 80 senators can support.”


Hatch, Grassley, and Enzi all sang a very different tune when they were in the majority, however:


– Tax Cuts For The Rich: In May 2001, the Senate passed President Bush’s budget-breaking $1.35 trillion tax cuts with only 58 votes. Nevertheless, Hatch announced that he was “extremely proud of this bipartisan bill.” Grassley praised the tax cuts as “built upon bipartisanship,” and Enzi praised the Senate for passing the bill in a “bipartisan fashion.”

– Subsidies For Drug Companies: In November 2003, the Senate passed a prescription drug plan for seniors that was strongly backed by lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry with only 54 votes. Nevertheless, Grassley released a statement praising himself as the “lead Senate architect of the bipartisan legislation” creating this plan.

– Nuclear Option: Four years ago, when Senate Democrats filibustered seven of President Bush’s 205 nominees to the federal bench, conservatives deemed the filibuster unconstitutional and invented a tactic known as the “nuclear option” to ram the blocked nominees through the Senate. Hatch and Grassley were on the vanguard of the movement to block any attempt to require judges to be confirmed by a supermajority. Hatch described the filibuster as “unconstitutional,” and Grassley described judicial filibusters as “an abuse of our function under the Constitution.”


Now that conservatives make up only a tiny majority of the Senate, however, they’ve decided that even the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold isn’t a strong enough barrier to block much-needed reform. Instead, Hatch, Grassley, and Enzi now want to impose a 75-80 vote superfilibuster standard that will effectively kill any health care plan they don’t personally approve of.


watch it:
-

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/20/superfilibuster/

the ' supermajority '.

Indecision 2008 - Franken's Time
Samantha Bee explains that, despite Al Franken's addition to their supermajority, House Democrats are going to need a super duper majority.


<http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-1-2009/indecision-2008---franken-s-time>

They need a "Rooty-Tooty, Fresh and Fruity Super Duper Legislative Majority".

Screw you, we won!

. . . enough for Harry "Give 'Em Hell" Reid to believe he has a mandate to act. So this works out well.

f__k them. Their hypocrisy is endless. Can't these creeps realize they lost the election? The repig party is determined to subvert the will of the majority.

cannot fault them for that. That's what they owe the people who voted for them.

IMO, the real question is, do Democrats realize they won (and won BIG). If so, why are Democrats letting Pubs get away with so much? Why are Democrats doing wrong that Republicans control, whether they are in the majority and the minority? I KNOW Democrats are just as smart as Republicans. So, why are the peeps who vote for them always screwn, no matter how hard they work for them and how much they donate?

We got Obama elected and now he calls us the "left of the left" because we are insisting on the public option he campaigned on. We got 60 Senators elected and they're still claiming to be paralyzed. No one is putting the screws to the Blue Dogs, not Reid, not the other Democrats in the Senate (or the House), not the DNC and not their state Parties. Only us.

What is the real story here?

when they can't get their way, all they want to do is change the rules to give them another edge.
You clowns are a MINORITY now, get it?
This ain't Burger King, you CAN'T have it your way.

(Unless you count the GOP senate caucus or voter base, of course.)

in last years' Super Bowl as being worth 10 points each...

Why not make it 100 votes and be done with it? Better yet, make it 102 so Biden's vote doesn't count.

I will never see a liberal administration passing liberal policies for liberal people. It's just not going to happen. What was I thinking?

do about it?

ever pass a Democratically controlled congress except maybe more military spending. Screw the Republicans the people elected a Democratic President and gave us the majority in congress let them just say no who cares they are irrelevant.

They lost the election. No accomodating the losers here. Just show everyone how loony they are and move on. Just like the crazy aunt in the basement. You still have to go about your life without them.

It seemed to me there was some ill treatment of congressional Democrats during *'s first term. Something about a basement.

Huh. And what was that you were asking again, Mr. Hatch?

51 votes should do it and let the republicans filibuster to protect the insurance company's cut of
of the $2,522 trillion that are spent on health care every year in the United States.

You can't just change the rules in the middle of a game to suit your team. It doesn't work that way.

Perhaps you should just let this no good, very bad, awful, health care reform pass. Then when it doesn't work the way you are so damnned sure it won't you can repeal it when you return to power on a wave of popular discontent.

Thing is, I think it will work and you probably do to, which is why you are trying so hard to make sure it never gets out of the gate.

Mz Pip

Great post. I've always thought Hatch was too smart to believe the nonsense that his artificial political "philosophy" requires him to spout. This sort of weak effort on his part makes me think he's tired of the game.

The New Deal and Great Society weren't real bipartisan efforts either, but without them this country would be much the worse for wear.

So if we do get meaningful healthcare reform passed it'll be a feather in Obama's cap regardless of how many Republicans vote for it.

He has done everything he can to be reasonable; when he gets hardball questions in town hall meetings, he is super polite to the questioner. He has been super polite to the Repubs.

We will get healthcare reform, and Obama will come out smelling like a rose.

Senator Reid (D-Nev) will cosponsor rule change

Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote
Upordownvote

These friggin' crybabies had NO PROBLEM marginalizing the Dems just a few, short years ago. Let 'em see just how it feels. :grr:

with the GOP's disappointment.

Really, I can. :)

and if I remember correctly, Republicans fought both of them tooth and nail, even AFTER they were signed into law.

However, today most Americans shudder at the idea of abolishing Social Security, the FDIC or Medicare, and they no longer support racial segregation.

It'll become another one of those pillars of society that quickly become VERY popular and politically dangerous to oppose.

president, (haha, if) or congressmen/women attempting to campaign for health coverage changes to an already functioning Public Option. They definitely know that quite well. This health care push back has all the familiar markings of other past contemptuous resistance by same ol republicans.

If Americans were to get a taste of true healthcare reform, they'd realize what they've been missing all these years. We'd still have a few who would decry the "socialism" of it for the next decade or so--while availing themselves of it's benefits--but as the realizations of what it is sets in, it would become a part of our society the vast majority would not conceive of letting go.

becoming the American Express political party. Fortunately, people ARE leaving home without them.

<>

Too true! :rofl:

by an adult for dropping support in the polls. LOL! I also like this one.

Yup, you keep believing that health care nonsense Alice and watch your step going down that rabbit hole, you might get hurt and rest assured that your Insurance company doesn't cover you for rabbit holes especially in Wonderland, unless you're a republican who sits on their board....lol!

<>

Jackass will jump and bray, let him bray, let him bray
I say the Jackass will jump and bray,
Lordy let him bray, let him bray, everybody!

Now I tell you in a positive way
Don’t tie me donkey down there
Cause me donkey will jump and play
Don’t tie me donkey down there

Jackass will jump and bray, let him bray, let him bray
I say the Jackass will jump and bray,
Lordy let him bray, let him bray, everybody!

Now me donkey gone mad they say
Don’t tie me donkey down there
“Cause his eye on a bale o’ hay
Don’t tie me donkey down there

Jackass will jump and bray, let him bray, let him bray
I say the Jackass will jump and bray,
Lordy let him bray, let him bray, everybody!

Now the news really travel fast
Don’t tie me donkey down there
When me donkey in the meadow grass
Don’t tie me donkey down there

Jackass will jump and bray, let him bray, let him bray
I say the Jackass will jump and bray,
Lordy let him bray, let him bray, everybody!

Now me heart is light and gay
Don’t tie me donkey down there
He haw ‘till judgment day
Don’t tie me donkey down there

Always thought it would make for a celebratory Democratic theme song, say, to be used during their conventions!

I thought it was still a good way to say "Ignore Hatch."

They can whine for something that helps them and theirs, but The People said otherwise

You started the "go nuclear" discussion. Maybe that should be the response to you Republikan's continued attacks and obstructionism!

Hatch - such an ironic name for someone who can't seem to keep his shut.

:sarcasm:

that s/b rewarded.

Keep punting on the third down!

...........cowardly as a lot of the Dems in both houses??? You saw what "your" shock troops on the right did to a few town halls, you don't want to piss ALL the Liberals off.

Elections have consequences Orin, now stop pouting and go fuck yourself.

It is that simple.

That is all we have to say. Forget all the rationalization, justification, and other quotes which muddy the waters.


Short and sweet. Create a sound-byte message from Repugnant ones.

I love when Stewart and/ or Colbert highlight these jerks' latest statements by showing their past statements saying the exact opposite..

Not now hun, sorry.

the odds against anything that might help people

Just marvel at the hypocrisy that seems to flow out without embarrassment. It's almost as if they were in a coma for the last 30 years and had no memory.

Is it a problem for Congress critters to look at the rules of order and follw procedures that have been in place for over 200 years? Why is it that people seem to think that the Congress and Government can operate on "Insurance Rules".

It's like nobody can read, or the batteries in the Laptop are low, and the machine shuts down before you find the section in the rulebook that points out that they are talking out of their ass.

Reagan did it.
Bush did it.
Clinton did it.
Bush did it.
Obama is doing it.

Only now, they are more blatant about it.

are showing a shift in public opinion. There is a lot riding on this deal for the repukes in all aspects which makes it all that much more imperative to see this deal shut down at all cost and yet now, out comes this latest hiccup from the 60+ progressive Democrats pushing back hard making them more vile and unpredictable. This will get ugly.

In order to get them out of the limelight and without scrutiny. Unfortunately, the huge moneyflows pouring into and out of the Helath Care Lobbyis are not being scrutinized, and the media message is focusing on the poor, sick, neurotic individuals that are nothing more than victims of the mass plague of poor education, poor familiy upbringing, obedient to ridiculous authority, and basically politically impotent and unhappy people.

If America doesn't realize by now that over 100 million people are sick, with 50 million people taking some form of Antidepressant at any one time, and the majority of people malnourished by industrialized fast food, unhealthy animal products raised in inhuman conditions, and crops that have been raised primarily to look like a sterotypical vegetable, without regards to actual nutritious value.

People are so unwilling to take responsibility for themselves, that they play right into the hands of these fascists buy abusing the miraculous human body like they do. The American people are running their brains like a car without adequate lubrication.

Anything not receiving a unanimous vote in the Senate doesn't get passed.

That ought block progress enough to warm any Republican's heart.

:rofl:

In which case a simple majority of 3 votes is sufficient for passage, and veto power does not reside with the President, but solely
with God, whose word is interpreted solely by one of the three right wing nut cases that passed the bill in the first place.

That's Republican bi-partisanship.

them politically.

change 'em!

bipartisanship is a bad idea.

seems to me.

Nobody seems to say anything about filibuster.

I can.not. believe it, yet I can.

:rofl:

I feel like the Republicans are conceding healthcare reform and I'm giddy - WOOHOO!!

:)

to the Senate Democrats' talk of using budget reconciliation as a means of passing health reform legislation without having to worrying about the threat of a filibuster. Then the "compromise" becomes once again requiring a 60-vote threshold.

Republicans use this tactic all the time.

If the Democrats used this tactic then they would have started with single-payer proposals so that the blue dog compromise would then be a public-option. Instead, they started with public-option, so the only way the blue dogs can look tough to their constituents is to replace the public option with a regional co-op system (which we know doesn't work).

Video at link:

about 4:47 of video.


<http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/08/20/is-is-going-to-happen/>

I haven't seen such behavior since third grade. I suppose they want infinite do-overs.
Rat bass turds!

is probably a bad bill.

Make it so that no bill is legitimate unless it's unanimous! :eyes:

for major bills. Surprise, surprise. They have no concept of democracy and somewhere, our founding fathers are rolling in their graves.

May as well ask for it all, they're not gonna get any of it anyway.

ON EDIT: or sheep, as per each's preference

Goes to show yet again that you CANNOT make deals with extremists.

he can start with my finger. LOL!

they will never be satisfied.

;-)

And just how exactly do the Rethugs plan to impose a superfilibuster?

<>


+++++AND+++++


<http://www.savetheworlddesigns.com/images/map+mirror+face.jpg>

votes are needed to move out bills of committee.

Then Dems will easily pass such awesome legislation that people won't ever again let republicans get anywhere near a House or Senate majority.

Get over it.

Who gets to vote on it? Just Republicans?

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-1-2009/indecision-2008---franken-s-time

:headbang:
rocktivity

I can't imagine where they got such a transparently ridiculous idea...

:headbang:
rocktivity

hilarity it ought to receive from senate Dems.

They ought to look him in the face and guffaw and say, "Orrin, you're such a joker!". And then completely ignore such silliness.

Why not - its just ab absurd...

If they thought a referendum would pass, they'd call for a Constitutional amendment.

The Conservatives tried that in Canada a few years ago on the gay marriage issue.