Filibuster

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Re "Nuking the filibuster," Editorial, May 15 It should be clear by now that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will not do the right thing and fix the filibuster. The Senate will continue to be in gridlock. The Democratic senators wringing their hands over the lack of progress need to be pressuring Reid to get rid of the filibuster. Bob Zwissler Manhattan Beach Let's go a step further: I suggest that we amend the Constitution's advise and consent clause.

In requiring the U.S. Senate to confirm presidential appointments, the Constitution aims to ensure a second level of scrutiny of the qualifications of government officials. But Senate Republicans have hijacked the confirmation process, not only to thwart individual nominees but to undermine laws they don't agree with. If they continue in their obstructionism, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should revisit the possibility of doing away with the filibuster for nominations. The most immediate test case involves the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that moderates disputes between labor and management.

In requiring the U.S. Senate to confirm presidential appointments, the Constitution aims to ensure a second level of scrutiny of the qualifications of government officials. But Senate Republicans have hijacked the confirmation process, not only to thwart individual nominees but to undermine laws they don't agree with. If they continue in their obstructionism, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should revisit the possibility of doing away with the filibuster for nominations. The most immediate test case involves the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that moderates disputes between labor and management.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) delivered a nearly 13-hour filibuster Wednesday of John Brennan 's nomination to lead the CIA . Paul used his time on the floor to question the legality of the White House 's policies on drone use, beginning at 11:47 a.m. EST and ending at 12:39 a.m. EST Thursday. Below is the transcript of Paul's remarks, as his office released them, hour by hour. Hour 1: I rise today to begin to filibuster John Brennan's nomination for the CIA I will speak until I can no longer speak.

Re "Fixing the filibuster," Editorial, Nov. 25 Indeed, we should rein in this obnoxious abuse. As you write, "Senators who want to mount a filibuster should have just one chance of doing so" - preferably only once in six years, in my opinion. As Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein make clear in their book, "It's Even Worse Than It Looks," today's senators use the filibuster infinitely more often than their predecessors did. Worse yet, they have added the shameful custom of the "hold," by which a single senator can secretly stop any legislation or nomination from being debated or coming to a vote.

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans refused to allow a vote Wednesday on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to lead the Defense Department, staging the first filibuster against a president's choice to head the Pentagon since the agency was created.   Majority Leader Harry Reid called the move “a shame” as he announced on the floor of the Senate that he was unable to reach an agreement with the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee to avoid such a delay. Reid filed a motion to end the filibuster, which he said he expected to vote on Friday, at which point Democrats believe they will have enough votes to confirm Hagel's appointment.

Re "Disarm the filibuster," Opinion, Jan. 2 Joyce Appleby, in her otherwise excellent critique of the Senate's filibuster rule, leaves out the most telling constitutional argument against it. The vice president is given only one job by the Constitution beyond succeeding the president if necessary. That job is to break a tie vote in the Senate. Clearly the framers of the Constitution assumed that a majority vote would normally decide issues before the Senate, but since each state has two senators, there is always the possibility of a tie; so they put in a method to avoid legislative paralysis.

WASHINGTON - Hopes dimmed Thursday for vast rules changes in the Senate to limit the filibuster as a weapon in the partisan obstruction that has ground action in the chamber to a near standstill. Senators, mostly liberal Democrats, had sought to bring reforms at the start of the new Congress, and a key component was the requirement that any senator wishing to conduct a filibuster must remain talking on the Senate floor in the style actor James Stewart made famous in the film “Mr.

WASHINGTON -- Senate leaders reached a tentative agreement Thursday for rules changes that would limit the use of the filibuster as a weapon in the partisan obstruction that has ground action in the chamber to a near standstill.   The deal, between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), fell short of the sweeping reforms sought largely by liberal senators and their allies at the start of the new Congress. The package of changes was expected to come to a vote late Thursday.

The U.S. Senate has not conducted any official business this week, so the American people have been at least temporarily protected from its stultifying refusal to represent them well. But the senators will eventually return - and will resume blocking judicial nominees, converting budget disagreements into crises and preventing the enactment of even the most paltry gun restrictions favored by the overwhelming majority of Americans and the clear majority of the Senate itself. This is not the first time in its history that the Senate, by virtue of its rules, has become an impediment to the popular will.

Patton Oswalt is guest starring in this week's "Parks and Recreation," but the most impressive thing about his appearance is what you won't see on NBC. As part of the episode, Oswalt's character was supposed to appear before a Pawnee City Council meeting and filibuster a proposed vote. Producers invited Oswalt to "ramble a bit about whatever subject he wanted. " Oswalt decided his topic of choice was a pitch for the upcoming "Star Wars Episode VII. " While we wouldn't dream of spoiling the twists and turns the story takes, let's just say that he's found a brilliant way to merge two of the Disney corporation's biggest franchises (and even one they don't own)

WASHINGTON - The Senate crossed the first of many hurdles Thursday in the drive to pass new gun legislation, with a bipartisan vote to begin what could be weeks of debate on the issue. By a 68-31 margin, senators moved to open formal consideration of a package of reforms to expand background checks, improve school safety and combat gun trafficking. Among Republicans, 16 voted yes, while two Democrats voted no and one did not vote. Next week senators will be able to offer amendments that pose the real test of whether the larger bill will succeed.

WASHINGTON - The Senate moved Tuesday to begin long-anticipated deliberations this week over new gun laws as Republicans appeared to lack the strength to block the debate and bipartisan talks over expanding background checks on gun buyers appeared to have led to a deal. Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), who have been negotiating a compromise on background checks, scheduled a joint announcement for Wednesday morning at the Capitol. Talks are expected to begin Thursday.

The Senate's habit of filibustering judicial nominees must end. Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame. Nearly two and a half years after she was first nominated, a candidate for a seat on a federal appeals court in Washington has been denied an up-or-down confirmation vote by Senate Republicans who persist in obstructing President Obama's judicial appointments. But the blame must be shared by the Senate's Democratic leadership, which can't bring itself to repudiate the undemocratic institution of the filibuster.

New York lawyer Caitlin Halligan, who was first nominated to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., almost 2 1/2 years ago, has asked President Obama to withdraw her nomination. As The Times noted in an editorial today, Halligan was the victim of a Republican filibuster in which all but one of the GOP senators voting refused to cut off debate on her nomination. Had the nomination proceeded to a floor vote, she almost certainly would have been confirmed. Liberals and Democrats will decry the sandbagging of Halligan, who was accused by Republicans of extremism because she once filed suit against gun manufacturers.

I hope I'm not too late to the fight. FOR THE RECORD: Filibuster: In a March 12 column about Rand Paul, Sen. Lindsey Graham was identified as (R-Ky.). He is from South Carolina. Last week, freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) held an old-fashioned filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA. Paul's stated reason for taking to the floor and talking for 13 hours was that the Obama administration wouldn't give him a straight answer on the question of whether the president can unilaterally order the killing of American citizens on American soil with "lethal force, such as a drone strike … and without trial.

WASHINGTON - The encounter was as awkward as it appears in the photograph . Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) shared a Senate elevator just minutes after the veteran defense hawk assailed the tea party libertarian on the chamber floor for his "ridiculous" filibuster of the CIA director confirmation over the nation's drone policy. No pleasantries exchanged. None of the breezy banter that sometimes makes the Senate still seem the famously chummy club of 100. "Hi, Rand," McCain said, interrupting his own conversation with a reporter.