Quote:
Originally Posted by Guest
I think it will be worse, much worse for a bit.
The Democrats have plied their trade very well in the halls of congress. In the senate would not allow any amendments at all, disallowed discussion and NOT one bill from the house would ever leave the desk of Harry Reid.
Pelosi reigned supreme in the house and controlled every movement. Nothing the President wanted was denied him
Then in 2014, the Republicans took over both the Senate and the House and guess what....NOTHING CHANGED. NOTHING.
Democrats still manipulate the rules in both places....Iran a good example. The Democrats do not want a vote for the deal on their record so they simply stopped the voting. See, Harry Reid used the nuclear option to get any nominations the President wanted, but the Republicans did not use this option to insure that the Democrats had to vote on Iran.
And so it has gone. I think the entire Republican party is wondering what control over both bodies has gotten them if nothing has changed. As Bobby Jindal, for one, says he admires how Reid and Pelosi have used both houses and made sure they got what they want and wonders why the Republicans will not do the same.
I think Boehner with the best possible intentions just worried about it because it would tie up the government and the Democrats have become so good at blaming the Republicans, he would not do it.
Now, I think that Republicans get more aggressive and more Reid and Pelosi like in how they react.
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The amendment process was abused for a long time. Both parties were putting amendments on bills that nothing to do with the bill. Also, you should tie a bill up forever by adding amendments to it.
The comment that you made about Pelosi also applies to Boehner. Boehner reigned supreme in the house and controlled every movement. Nothing the President wanted was given to him.
Iran is not a good example. They didn't manipulate any rules. They used the filibuster preventing the Iran bill to be voted on. The Democratic Senators took a great deal of time reading the agreement, and attending closed door hearing where the agreement was explained to them. They explained their for or against the agreement. The Republicans were against it before they even looked at it.
See, Harry Reid used the nuclear option to get ANY nominations the President wanted. This statement is not accurate. The Republicans were holding up every nomination that the president made. He used the nuclear option on positions that are not high positions. He never used it for Supreme Court nominees.
McConnell is not stupid, and is very reluctant to use the nuclear option. The Republicans could very well lose the Senate in 2016. He doesn't want to lose his filibuster option for no good reason. Even if he did use the nuclear option, he wouldn't have enough votes to override a presidential veto. Besides the Senate Democrats made it known what their vote on the Iran agreement would be, if the agreement was ever voted on.