Filibusted: A Less Obstructed Senate Begins Confirming Obama Nominees
The Senate slowly began working its way through a backlog of presidential nominees on Tuesday now that Republicans are virtually powerless to block confirmations, approving a once-stalled judge to a powerful appeals court and a new director for the agency that oversees federal home lending.
But Republicans, still seething over a power play last month by Democrats to curtail the filibuster significantly, have settled on a strategy for retribution: Make the confirmation process as time-consuming and painful as possible for Democrats.
“There’s a price that has to be paid when people abuse the rules,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. “And let’s face it. These guys have completely obliterated the rules.”
Projecting much, Orrin?
Sure, the GOP will continue to use every means to obstruct efficient government – that is, if they just can’t break it outright. They tried a few of their tricks today:
Republicans have employed several tactics already, including one on Tuesday that forced the abrupt adjournment of the confirmation hearing for President Obama’s choice to lead the Internal Revenue Service, John A. Koskinen. They also forced the Senate to burn through all four hours of mandatory debate time on the nomination of Representative Melvin Watt, the North Carolina Democrat picked to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Often senators will reach an agreement to yield that time.
Mr. Watt’s nomination was ultimately confirmed Tuesday by a vote of 57 to 41. The nomination of Patricia Ann Millett to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also cleared the Senate, 56 to 38.
Look for Harry Reid and Democrats to continue to bring backlogged candidates forward for the “up-or-down vote” that Republicans were begging for just a few years back.
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By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.