White House may seek to bypass filibuster rule in Senate

White House may seek to bypass filibuster rule in Senate

www.mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — A top White House official threatened Tuesday to use a congressional rule to force some controversial proposals through the Senate by eliminating the Republicans' power to block legislation.

Peter Orszag, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the Obama administration would prefer not to use the budget "reconciliation" process that allows measures to pass the Senate on simple majority votes.

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[edit on 18-3-2009 by MSMLies]

"The Obama Administration would prefer not to" use this rule. That some threat. Are they kidding with this? Throughout Bush's reign over the world I always thought it would be republicans that achieved single party rule in government (not that there's much of a difference between the two parties) but everything became so clear after last year's elections.

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www.mcclatchydc.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 18-3-2009 by MSMLies]

"Pretty much every major piece of budget legislation going back to April 1981, April '82, April 1990, April 1993, the 1990 act, the 2001 tax legislation, they were all done through reconciliation. Yet somehow this is being presented as an unusual thing," Orszag said.

"The historical norm as opposed to the exception is for a major piece of budget legislation to move through reconciliation."

From Article

So apparently this is the norm for passing a budget package through Congress...which makes sense if you think about it. Dems were steadfastly opposed to gutting Federal programs and slashing spending during Republican dominance and when the Democrats dominate the Republicans steadfastly refuse items pushed by the Democratic agenda (wealthy tax hikes, carbon cap and trade).

The article even said the Republicans would be completely unwilling to negotiate if there was a cap and trade section of the budget. So, if one side wants something that the other side won't even allow compromise on, what do you do? If you're the top dog, you typically just sideline the yapping poodle.

Obama's going to try and keep his agenda, and I suppose his opponents are going to try and keep theirs. Hoorah American politics!

Yea I read that part you quoted after I posted this and thought, to use this rule in one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history is unacceptable IMO even if it is completely legal or "the norm". Like you said hooray for American politics...