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Subscribe to RSSWith the Senate falling short Thursday of the 60 votes needed to move to a confirmation vote on defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, Majority Leader Harry Reid was correct in claiming that never before had the Senate had a cloture vote on a nominee to run the Defense Department.
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But it’s not unprecedented for the Senate to have cloture votes on other presidential nominations – from ambassadors to judges.
The Senate changed its rules in 1949 to allow cloture motions on nominations, but cloture wasn’t sought on a nomination until 1968. From that year until March of 2012 cloture was sought on 99 nominations, including some well-known nominees:
- Abe Fortas to be chief justice in 1968
- William Rehnquist to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1971 and to be chief justice in 1986
- John Bolton to be ambassador the United Nations in 2005
- Ben Bernanke to be chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2010
- Richard Cordray to be head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2012.
But not in every case of a cloture vote is there a prolonged debate on the nomination which ties up the Senate for days – in fact, in most cases there isn’t.
A cloture vote, if successful, allows a final up-or-down vote on confirming the nominee, after up to 30 more hours of debate. For confirmation, a simple majority is usually, but not always, all that is needed.
The decision to seek a cloture vote is in the majority leader’s hands and he can time cloture votes not merely to push forward a nomination and get a vacancy filled, but to paint the nominee’s opponents as obstructionists.
Reid and previous Senate leaders have used cloture votes to drive political messages and to generate enthusiasm among their party’s base.
Case in point: Miguel Estrada, President George W. Bush’s nominee to the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist insisted on seven separate votes on cloture on the Estrada nomination in 2003.
MSNBC Analyst and former Chair of the RNC Michael Steele, editorial writer for The Washington Post Ruth Marcus, and NBC's Capitol Hill Correspondent Kelly O'Donnell join to talk about the Hagel confirmation, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Each of them failed, but they hammered home that Reid and the Democrats were blocking a nominee whom Republicans thought was amply qualified and who happened to be a Latino immigrant.
“This is a dark moment, I believe, in the history of the United States Senate,” Frist said after the final vote on Estrada failed and the nominee withdrew.
Senators, Frist said “have been denied a very, very basic right” to vote on the nominee and “Miguel Estrada has been denied the opportunity to be considered by this body by a single up-or-down vote, whereby individual colleagues could vote either for or against a brilliant, a qualified nominee, all because of the obstruction of a few.”
More than a few: 43 Democrats, including Reid, voted against cloture on Estrada.
After Reid filed the cloture motion on Wednesday, Republicans denied that they really were stalling Hagel’s confirmation by a filibuster.
“What we are doing is not a filibuster,” Sen. Jim Inhofe, R- Okla., said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “We are seeking a 60 vote threshold for a controversial nomination. If the majority really wanted to move forward quickly, all they have to do is agree to a 60-vote margin, like they did with the (Kathleen) Sebelius and (John) Bryson nominations.”
When President Obama nominated Sebelius to head the Department of Health and Human Services in 2009, Republicans and anti-abortion groups delayed her confirmation, partly due to her understating the amount of campaign contributions she had received from a Kansas abortion doctor, Dr. George Tiller, and partly due to her veto, as Kansas governor, of a bill to impose new limits on abortion providers.
In the negotiations over Sebelius, Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to 60-vote threshold on confirmation – a procedure they could use in Hagel’s case as well.
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Inhofe contended that, “A 60-vote margin is not a filibuster. We are merely saying the Senate is entitled to this information” -- on speeches that Hagel had given in the past few years.
The term “filibuster” evokes images of actor Jimmy Stewart holding the Senate floor until he collapses from exhaustion in the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. And there have been famous single-senator filibusters: Sen. Strom Thurmond holds the record of 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to a civil rights bill in 1957.
But by the time the Senate voted on cloture Thursday there had been only two days of intermittent floor debate on Hagel’s nomination – with discussion of the defense secretary nominee interspersed with unrelated speeches on global climate change, the Keystone XL Pipeline, kidney transplants, whether certain sites in Plaquemines Parish, La. should be units of the National Park System and various other topics.
Whether those two days of intermittent debate were or weren’t a filibuster, congressional expert Sarah Binder who teaches political science at George Washington University said the Hagel debate “represents a significant change in the Senate's practice of advice and consent. The issue here is the target of the filibuster-- an appointment to the president's ‘inner cabinet.’ My sense is that there has generally been a strong degree of deference to the president over his appointments to the executive branch-- particularly over the choice of his top appointments to State, Treasury, Justice, and Defense.”
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee to be Defense Secretary, on Capitol Hill, Jan. 31, 2013.
Binder said, “I don't think we should be surprised to find partisan polarization seeping over into these top confirmation battles. Partisanship has spread almost everywhere else in the Senate.”
In the past filibusters and cloture votes were not always an essential part of delaying a nominee.
In the case of John Tower’s nomination to be defense secretary in 1989, President-elect George H.W. Bush announced his nomination in December of 1988, but it was not until March of 1989 that Tower was defeated – not on a cloture vote but on a confirmation vote. The vote came after six days of Senate floor debate.
Tower’s ally Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., denounced the delay: “I have a large problem with the scenario that we won’t vote until every single allegation that comes over the transom is investigated.”
Of all people, Reid knows how effective the threat of a filibuster can be: he was Senate minority whip in 203 and 2004 when Democrats successfully blocked confirmation votes on ten Bush appeals court nominees, including Estrada.
That Democratic filibuster effort won applause from progressive groups. “For months, Senate Democrats have been heroically holding out against President Bush's nominations of extremist judges to America's most powerful courts,” Moveon.org told its supporter in 2003.
Citing Estrada’s withdrawal, Moveon.org said, “Our campaign to stop Bush's extremist nominees has been extraordinarily successful so far.” Estrada’s defeat “was a major victory -- the first time Bush has conceded defeat on any nomination.”
Now for some progressive groups, the delay in Hagel’s confirmation makes the case for changing Senate rules to further limit filibusters.
In a statement Thursday night, George Kohl, Senior Director at the Communications Workers of America, a union that contributed heavily to Democratic candidates in 2012, said, “A real Senate reform package would have made the obstructionists hold the floor and keep 41 of their colleagues with them over a holiday weekend.” Kohl added “the Republicans in the Senate remain intent on breaking new ground in Senate obstruction,” and “Senate Democrats who worked to scuttle more substantial reforms have forfeited their right to complain.”
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Hagel is NOT qualified! Yes, he served admirably in Vietnam, but resorted to political opportunism in 2006 & 2007, when the Media finally was successful in making everyone believe Iraq was another Vietnam, and the the Democrats took Congress! And then the real downfall of our country started at God Speed! I would rather Obama nominate a Democrat that is steady with his/her ideals, then a Guy that thought that he could be a political hero of the Left! Nominate your own, they would have a better chance of passing as the Fed's biggest responsibility is the defense of our nation.
Wrong man for the job. In 2007, Hagel declined to support the bipartisan Iran Counter Proliferation Act aimed at targeting governments and businesses that assist Iran's nuclear program. The following year, a congressional aide told the Huffington Puffinton Post that Hagel was soley responsible for blocking an Iran sanctions bill.
We need good National security people who know what they're doing and he isn't one of them.
Hagel lacks policy grasp too. At his Senate confirmation hearings he was confused and contradictory about containing Iran and had to be informed by Senator Levin that the Obama administration's policy is that Iran nob obtain nuclear weapons, nor that it seeks to contain a nuclear Iran. He wouldn't disclose foreign funding either, or his financial dealings to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Was he funding unsavory sources, including a group called Friends of Hamas?
In 2006, Hagel was one of only 12 senators who refused to formally call upon the European Union to declare Hizballah a terrorist organization.
In 2009, Hagel signed a letter urging President Obama to begin direct negotiations with Hamas a U.S. designated terrorist group committed in its Charter to the destruction of Israel and the Jews. Too many negatives here!
Let's be honest: the only reason for the delay is the vindictiveness of Republicans. They will continue to oppose, obstruct and delay as long as they can, not only in terms of Chuch Hagel but in terms of whatever the American people who re-elected President Obama want.
Let's be honest.... the Low Information Voters are only for Hagel because their messiah nominated him.
The Atlantic Council, chaired by former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), released a list late Friday evening ofcorporate donors as well as foreign governments that had funded it over the past five years.
The list did not shed light on individuals such as Saad Hariri, whose family has given generously to the Atlantic Council and who has supported the Hamas terror organization publicly, as well as offering financial support to Syrian rebels.
Connect the dots!!!
Lol....this is so lame. Were you a fan of McCarthy and the guilt by six degrees of association?
Low Information Voters like John S. are in denial that Democrats are directly involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in the White House and in Homeland Security...the Brother hood has visited the White House many times! Hillary's assistant Huma Abedin Weiner, worked in the State Department with Hillary, she had eyes and ears to classified government secrets. Huma's mother Saleha Abedin is also tied to the Muslim Brotherhood...Hassan Abedin, Huma's brother sets on the board of Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies....Read United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror by Jamie Glazov.
OMG, are you serious?
OMG John S., are you a complete IDIOT?
Senator Ted Cruz grilled Obama defense chief nominee Chuck Hagel over his controversial appearance on Al Jazeera, the Arab propaganda channel, during which the former Republican Senator had agreed with a viewer that the United States was a “bully” in global affairs. It has now been revealed that the government of Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, was a major contributor to the Atlantic Council when Hagel was its chairman.
What Obama wants is a Socialist Nation with those all dependent at his beck & call! The 1 % will become the Democratic Party! Please for the sake of GOD, get you head out of the sand! This man is destroying a once proud party of the working man & woman! Turning to the Anti War, Hippie, mentality that resulted in the last economic crisis in the late 70's. It's GOING to change! The fact that urban & suburban people came out in droves at the Media's direction last November doesn't meand there was a Landslide by any means. It just means that people have bought into the Media's creation of a President that has no experience to even qualify for the Job he has. Read his books, he worships his Dead Beat Dad, who was Anti American and a Socialist! Why wasn't he vetted in 2008? Because our Media is still having their WET DREAM at he expense of this GREAT Country. Clinton will be the LAST democrat I will ever, EVER, vote for, as he sunk to even a lower level than what he did in the historic confines of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! Get ready for another Shallacking in the Fall of 2014. By then Obamacare will be taxing all of us, and employers will be saying, go get your insurance with the State! Have FUN with that! PATHETIC!
No one claims that President Obama was elected by a landslide. Have you heard anyone claim that? If so, where? Who claimed that he won by a landslide? Tell us so we can all refute that. He did win re-election, however, and that is what our American system is all about. People vote and the candidate who gets the most votes wins ( except, of course, for Mr. Bush's stolen second term ). The media hasn't created a false Obama; the Republicans and the Tea Party have. They talk against his "socialism" ( lol ) and other nonsense. We knew who he was and what he stood for. The economic crisis was created in large part by the ridiculous medicare prescription plan which Mr. Bush and his Congressional cronies passed without ANY funding and by two unnecessary wars which cost TRILLIONS of dollars and countless lives and suffering. Thank God Barack Obama is getting us out of this despite Republican obstructionism.
The more I read about Chuck Hagel, the more I understand why Barack Obama chose him to run the Defense Department. They are like two peas in a pod when it comes to foreign policy. Both share a hatred for Israel, and both have a softness towards Islam. Hagel will do exactly what Obama is calling him to do: weaken our military, harm Israel, and advance the cause of Islam.
In other words, we're screwed, ladies and gentleman, screwed royally. By the time Obama is finished bringing destruction to this nation, it may be beyond repair.
Thank you so much for writing what you've written. Anyone with an IQ of more than 10 will understand what President Obama's opponents are all about when they read what you've written.
John,
Time to go watch Ben Carson make crap of Obama. Maybe you should, too. You might learn something!
John S., all you've offered here tonite is your opinion backed up with nothing of substance.
Answer this: Why is Hagel a good candidate for Sec. Def.?
Actually Harry Reid forced the filibuster over this, cuz that's the kind of scum he is...Republicans wanted a delay to get more info from the administration and Hagel (it's alleged in another speech he said our State Dept is basically the Israeli Foreign Ministry),
and Reid doesn't want to provide any more info, to protect his rotten party from a black eye on its nominee, who has already goofed up a lot.
So he forced it to a Senate vote to make Republicans have to vote for cloture, when all they asked for was a delay to get more info.
The plan by this sleazebag Reid is to make Republicans appear to be filibustering on a whim, but the reality is he forced it, he's a liar, and so are all Democrats.
Chest the puller. I bet that is all you do when you are home besides talk ridiculous made up garbage.
Senator Ted Cruz grilled Obama defense chief nominee Chuck Hagel over his controversial appearance on Al Jazeera, the Arab propaganda channel, during which the former Republican Senator had agreed with a viewer that the United States was a “bully” in global affairs. It has now been revealed that the government of Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, was a major contributor to the Atlantic Council when Hagel was its chairman.
Yes, and I once sat in a subway car with a man who had robbed a bank twenty years before I boarded the train. Ergo: I love and support bank robbers.
John S., all you've offered here tonite is your opinion backed up with nothing of substance.
Answer this: Why is Hagel a good candidate for Sec. Def.?
I guess this is how you silence an Obamabot like John S, ask them a question that requires a substantive answer.
It's 9:00 PM Eastern. Time to go watch Ben Carson make crap of Obama!!!
Ben is AWESOME!
Anyone get a feeling of deja vu? 1989, John Tower?
5 Republicans in 2 days told me they finally figured out what a scam the so called GOP is.
please in the last few days I have read twice that many dems realizing that their leader was a serious mistake. We can do this all day.
No you did not. But republicans are deciding that political republicans in Congress are trash, hateful, wicked and rotten. Democrats voted for President Obama and the Democrats who will fight these hateful republican traitors to our country.
John S.-3196981
No one claims that President Obama was elected by a landslide. Have you heard anyone claim that? If so, where? Who claimed that he won by a landslide? Tell us so we can all refute that. He did win re-election, however, and that is what our American system is all about. People vote and the candidate who gets the most votes wins ( except, of course, for Mr. Bush's stolen second term ). The media hasn't created a false Obama; the Republicans and the Tea Party have. They talk against his "socialism" ( lol ) and other nonsense. We knew who he was and what he stood for. The economic crisis was created in large part by the ridiculous medicare prescription plan which Mr. Bush and his Congressional cronies passed without ANY funding and by two unnecessary wars which cost TRILLIONS of dollars and countless lives and suffering. Thank God Barack Obama is getting us out of this despite Republican obstructionism.
#55.1 - Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:51 PM EST
Can someone tell these people that BUSH did not create this! THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DID! Take responsibility! That's what it is all about! People, with the Goverment's help via many bleeding hearts, went in over their heads in mortgage debt! The Government had freaking scorecards on the Lenders that didn't do exactly what was expected by the FED! BUSH wasn't the smartest, but he was a decent Man that wanted to protect us after 911. That's all debatable, but the economic crash is NOT debatable! Government intrusion into private markets again for social reengineering! The HIPPIE @!$%# is hitting the Fan AGAIN! Now you have a Man with no executive experience calling the shots that still believes that his DEAD BEAT DAD is a hero! And agrees with his principles! WOW!
Anything Obama is oh nah nah. A party of criminals that only work 127 days a year and still do nothing. The house of ill repute, and a dysfunctional senate.
Actually it is pretty much a landslide since they tried voter suppression, long lines at Democratic distrits, Go right through in Gop districts, Letters like from the koch brothers and 4 other companies telling basically they lose their jobs if Obama wins, Jerry meandering kept their house seats, Anonomys closed the Gate Karl Rove used to add Thousands of votes Vs Gore. Evil people and they make you believe this is your party.
Who is Jerry Meandering? Anonomys? Distrits? Ever try spell check? Dummy.
That's correct.. that's what WE VOTED for in both 2010 and 2012. We needed to stop the madness of the Guy that represents to MANY, the very reason the Cold War was fought financially! Keep spending and borrowing from foreign powers! What a great plan, but guess what?..... the Government was NEVER successful at getting us out out of recession. Even FDR and JFK would admit it! That's why JFK cut the freaking taxes on the "RICH" down from something like 90% to about 40%. The MADNESS was deafining then, and it is NOW! God bless the GOP and those SANE Democrats for fighting the good fight against the Community Organizer that wants to "fundamentally change the United States of America!" Hey! Get on a boat and go to Havana! Meet your hero's! I guarantee you come back with another perspective! We have Kid's for God's sake! See what you have voted for!
Our country was in great shape when JFK took over. Only the cold war loomed.
The party of Lies. This is not the Eisenhower party anymore. It is a party of thieves and criminals wanting you pay more for all their privatizing. Destroying the postal service. What other business in history has to come up with 75 years of benefits in 10 years. I could go on for days and days.
The party of Socialist Marxists. This is not the party of JFK anymore. It is a party of thieves and criminals wanting you pay more for all their failed social programs. Destroying the private sector by over regulation and taxation. These Obamabot Dimocrats think they can continue to infinitely borrow 40 cents for every dollar they spent. I could go on for days and days.
What you are saying is well said Austerity Never Works. The Senate took action on the Postal Service months ago, but the completely and totally incompetent and never there republican House would do nothing on it. They do absolutely nothing worthy of them getting paid a salary. Instead of them coming up with legislation for the good of the country it is the Senate and the House still does nothing. They are incompetent republicans who take more vacations than anything else.
SS saved us from one of the great depression . Eisenhower spent our way into prosperity. Get your friggen lying facts straight!
Idiot.
Greg don't give us so much info about yourself.
Greg, you're a good judge of character.
You would be calling Eisenhower a socialist pinko today. He was more liberal than Obama could be.
Really?
The Gop is so much closer to a fascist party then Dems are socialists. The Dems are like the Repubs of just 30 years ago. But yet because you are fed s---- for brains you have been brainwashed.
Really?
Yeah John Really. Guess you don't know much political histotry.
Austerity Never Works...... political "histotry" genius.
Nixon wanted the EPA. These disgusting bastarsds want to put a pipeline through our countries largest aquafers with the dirtiest oil ever produced.
They don't care about our people or country. Greed is their only issue.
Not entirely wrong, but at least they want the money they have earned and not just everyones money on the basis that they know best what I need.
really, fed sh-t for brains? closeer to A a? Try not to justify your beliefs with history that does not matter and is not true. Today is the day in which the left is edging closer and closer to main stream socialism simply by their desire to have the government meet their every need.
Another proud moment for the GOP. I wish they'd concentrate on progress instead of obstructionism. It's really too bad.
Renmember the history in slavery. Keep voting for these evil people and you may become one your self. You want to break up the only thing that gives you a voice UNIONS.
I actually belong to a union. Not always impressed with it. It also does not dominate my thinking. Not a far right conservative, but still conservative.
This will make Austerity's head explode...... Lincoln was an "evil" REPUBLICAN!
This is the problem my friends! We had some interns at our company last summer, and they are being taught that Reagan would be a Liberal by today's GOP standards! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! These F&*king professors better stop smoking whatever they're smoking! We all heard in 1980 that he would destroy the social safety net and end Medicare! He only orchestrated a remarkable ecomonic comeback, and now you have a GUY in power, that abhores HIM, with the Media's blessing, and now will IN TURN; will turn us back! Forward???? NAWW! They want us to go BACKWARD! PEACE, LOVE, SEX, FREE BIRTH CONTROL, FREE ABORTION FOR THOSE THAT FOR A NIGHT WERE IRRESPONSIBLE! PATHETIC! I am a Parent that actually liked Democrats, but now it's becoming impossible to agree with their ideals now! They've latched on to the Woodstock mentality my friends! Please END them in 2014 & 2016 for the SAKE of my Son's prospects for success! PLEASE!
The No Party has done what no of the party has done in our history..Unbelievable...
SoJjohn socialism meets their every need? You must be an idiot then not to believe in one.