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Friday, March 24, 2017

The Senate Dems are Losing It

It's rather extraordinary to watch the Democrats in the Senate melt down as they try to oppose everything that the GOP or President Trump does.  The Dems are not "working together" in any way.  Instead, they are trying as hard as possible to block or slow down everything, even if there is no reason to do so.

Here's a few good examples:

1.  The nomination of George Friedman to be US ambassador to Israel was approved by the Senate this week.  All but two Democrats voted first to filibuster the nomination, and when that lost, they then voted against the nominee.  This is not a nomination to be Secretary of State; it's just an ambassadorial position.  The nominee (now ambassador) is a well known and well regarded attorney from New York.  There is no reason to block him from taking his position.  This is just the Democrats doing exactly what they always charged the GOP with doing in the past.  Of course, the GOP did not block or attempt to block ambassadors or to stop bills from passing.  That only happened in the excuses that the senate Dems put forward to their base.  But now, the Democrats are really doing this.  It's insane.

2.  Chuck Schumer says that the Democrats are going to filibuster the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.  We just finished a lengthy hearing during which judge Gorsuch showed himself to be a fine selection for SCOTUS.  As these things go, the hearings were a complete success for Gorsuch.  There is no basis on which to oppose Gorsuch.  Indeed, if the Dems want to vote against Gorsuch, it is a futile gesture.  Still, the idea that the Dems are going to filibuster his nomination is crazy and self-defeating.  The Republicans will no doubt use the so-called nuclear option and do away with the filibuster (which is what the Dems under Harry Reid did for other nominations about two years ago.)  It may even be that the GOP will do away with all filibusters.  That would mean that on things like healthcare and tax revisions, the Dems would lose the ability to filibuster.

 

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