The FACTS About Bush & Obama Filibusters

[TruthSeeker56]

A palpable air of hypocrisy hangs over the Senate these days. Seeking to distract attention from President Obama’s unconstitutional “recess” appointments — not to mention the failure of his economic policies — Democrats disingenuously accuse Republicans of “obstructing” the president’s judicial nominees.

In an attempt to create the perception of Republican resistance, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev), has taken the extraordinary step of scheduling contentious cloture votes for 17 nominees who were otherwise on the normal path to routine confirmation, claiming “delay for delay’s sake.”

Of course, these desperate claims are entirely false: the Senate has already confirmed more of President Obama’s nominees (129) than it did during President George W. Bush’s entire second term (120), and has done so at an almost identical pace (average of 218 and 211 days, respectively, from nomination to confirmation). Indeed, not long ago Reid acknowledged that the Senate has “done a good job on nominations,” and a Judiciary Committee Democrat recently noted that we have been “speeding up the confirmation of judges.”

Claims of Republican obstruction are not only demonstrably false, they are highly hypocritical. The very Democrats now seeking to manufacture confirmation controversy personally devised and carried out a systematic effort to block President Bush’s judicial nominees through an unprecedented use of the Senate filibuster.

It is a matter of historical record that beginning in 2001, Senate Democrats dramatically changed the confirmation process. Throughout the Bush administration, Democrats actively sought to block numerous judicial nominees, forcing more than 30 cloture votes as Republicans tried to end persistent Democratic filibuster efforts.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), voted against cloture a record-setting 27 times. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), cast 26 votes to filibuster Bush nominees and, in 2003, defiantly declared: “Yes, we are blocking judges by filibuster. That is part of the hallowed process around here.”

Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who now claims to have been “respectful of President Bush’s appointments,” repeatedly joined with Democratic colleagues in attempting to filibuster judicial confirmations, including seven separate votes against cloture for the nomination of Miguel Estrada—one of the nation’s leading appellate lawyers—to the D.C. Circuit.

Not to be outdone, Reid took virtually every opportunity to block Bush nominees, voting against cloture on 26 separate occasions. In his view there was no amount of time—“not a number in the universe”—that would be adequate for debate on the filibustered nominees.

During his brief time in the Senate, President Obama himself played a key role in the Democratic filibuster campaign, helping lead the effort to block the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit. Then-Senator Obama also joined Democrat colleagues in voting to filibuster the judicial nominations of Priscilla Owen, William Pryor, Janice Rogers Brown, and Samuel Alito.

LINKS:

Democratic Hypocrisy - Op-Eds - Press Office - Mike Lee, United States Senator for Utah

It's not unprecedented to filibuster cabinet nominees - The Hill's Congress Blog

Filibuster is needed to protect minority rights | WashingtonExaminer.com

George Will: The filibuster stalker - Conservative News

Long live the filibuster - Philly.com

JUST WAITING FOR THE LEFTISTS IN HERE TO RESPOND................

 

[Mad Scientist]

The problem isn't the Democrats OR the Republicans, it's the Banking and Monied Interests that Control Them.

Americans need to start looking beyond that fake Left/Right paradigm.

 

[TruthSeeker56]

No leftist response.

Too many facts for them. They are all confused.

 

[CaGOPatriot]

The problem isn't the Democrats OR the Republicans, it's the Banking and Monied Interests that Control Them.

Americans need to start looking beyond that fake Left/Right paradigm.

This country depends on the banks and the monied interests liberals hate. The left wants socialism to steal from the rich to give to the lazy and worthless.