Democrats Poised to Limit Filibusters, Angering G.O.P.
By JEREMY W. PETERS, NYT
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday moved toward imposing historic limits on how the filibuster can be used as Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, set in motion a series of votes on Obama administration nominees that could force a long-festering fight with Republicans to a head.
Mr. Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said he had exhausted all other options and was acting only after Senate Republicans refused to stop abusing the Senate rules to keep President Obama from putting his picks atop federal agencies.
“The place doesn’t work,” Mr. Reid said. “The American people know the dysfunction we have here. And all we’re asking is let the president have his team.”
A tense and sometimes peevish back-and-forth between the leaders of both parties unfolded on the Senate floor throughout the day, with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, accusing Mr. Reid of trying to do irreversible damage to an institution that in many ways still functions as it did when the Constitution was drafted.
(More here.)
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday moved toward imposing historic limits on how the filibuster can be used as Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, set in motion a series of votes on Obama administration nominees that could force a long-festering fight with Republicans to a head.
Mr. Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said he had exhausted all other options and was acting only after Senate Republicans refused to stop abusing the Senate rules to keep President Obama from putting his picks atop federal agencies.
“The place doesn’t work,” Mr. Reid said. “The American people know the dysfunction we have here. And all we’re asking is let the president have his team.”
A tense and sometimes peevish back-and-forth between the leaders of both parties unfolded on the Senate floor throughout the day, with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, accusing Mr. Reid of trying to do irreversible damage to an institution that in many ways still functions as it did when the Constitution was drafted.
(More here.)
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