Filibusters

Re "Once Used Sparingly, Filibuster Becomes a Common Obstacle," Aug. 31: Since your article on so-called filibusters was based almost entirely on a report by the partisan Democratic Study Group, I would like to add some Republican facts to the mix. According to the Senate Republican Policy Committee, only two bills have effectively died in the 103rd Congress because of the Senate's failure to end debate, and one--the product liability bill--was killed...

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.

The principle of the filibuster is a sound one: Any member of the U.S. Senate may speak for any length of time, so a senator who is fiercely determined to oppose a bill may command the podium and stop other business in order to make a point of grave importance. Used judiciously, the device prevents a narrow majority from imposing its will on a significant or determined minority. It allows passions to cool, and reinforces the Senate's place as a deliberative body, an institution that the framers imagined might slow the more rampant and populist instincts they believed would emerge from the House of Representatives.

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.

Republicans blocked a vote on President Obama's pick for a seat on the crucial federal appeals court in Washington, dealing the White House a setback as it continues to struggle to fill judicial vacancies across the nation. The Senate GOP filibustered the nomination of Caitlin Halligan, a New York lawyer who had won praise from some conservatives. Republicans said they were concerned about Halligan's record on gun rights and terrorism detainee issues. All but one — Alaska's Lisa Murkowski — voted to prevent her nomination from going to the floor for a final vote, where the judge could have been approved by a simple majority.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul is holding up the Senate floor this week with a filibuster calling for an end to U.S. financial support to Egypt. The Kentucky senator is protesting the Egyptian government's treatment of Americans working at non-governmental organizations, some of whom have been blocked from leaving the country and are now being forced to stand trial on charges stemming from their work, as our Los Angeles Times colleagues have reported...

Senate conservatives agreed Thursday to halt their efforts to delay a vote on the nomination of Roberta Achtenberg to a senior post in the Clinton Administration, clearing the way for the San Francisco gay activist's confirmation early next week. After two days of extraordinarily bitter debate in which senators came close to trading personal insults on the floor, Republican conservatives led by Sen.

Senate Republicans trying to reverse President Clinton's order protecting striking workers ran headlong into a Democratic filibuster Thursday. Republicans won the first skirmish in the partisan battle, defeating Democrats' attempt to kill the GOP measure on a 57-42 vote. But the victory margin was shy of the 60 votes needed under Senate rules to stop opponents of a measure from debating it endlessly. Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) scheduled a vote on ending the debate for Monday.

To justify banning Senate filibusters in judicial nomination debates, Republicans are claiming support from history. Until now, say Republicans such as Sen. John Kyl and former Sen. Bob Dole, no one has used filibusters to block nominees to the federal courts. Because Democrats have broken an unwritten rule, their logic goes, Republicans are forced to change written ones. But the charge that filibustering judicial appointments is unprecedented is false.

Congress, rushing to adjourn for the year, will hold an extraordinary Sunday session today in an effort to complete work on a budget compromise and repeal of Medicare's controversial catastrophic care program. But lawmakers may be thwarted in their plans to leave town this week because dissident senators, including Republican Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, are threatening a filibuster to save remnants of the catastrophic program.

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.

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.

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.

WASHINGTON — With a critical vote looming this weekend, Senate Democrats reached a deal with the lone Democratic holdout -- Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who will back the party's healthcare bill after settling weeks of negotiating over abortion. That would give Democrats the 60 votes they need to quash a series of Republican-led filibusters and pass a bill by Christmas. Nelson, who was pushing for tougher restrictions on federal funding for abortion, reached the agreement with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office after round-the-clock talks with Reid and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.

Outwardly, the Republican filibuster that has stymied President Clinton's $16.3-billion economic stimulus package may look like the kind of congressional bickering most voters long ago learned to ignore. Beneath the surface, however, it is turning into the first major test of whether Clinton has the presidential strength and leadership skills to turn his wide-ranging policy agenda into reality.

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.