The Charmingly Dry Wit of Nancy Pelosi
There are many truisms of life inside the Capitol that occasionally surface in media coverage but are rarely explained straight-up to those outside the building. Here's one: House Democrats -- like many in the party's grassroots base -- often watch in frustration as legislation that can easily pass in their chamber slows down to a stop in the Senate.
Despite the Democrats' control of 58 Senate seats (pending the outcome in Minnesota), that climate hasn't changed this year. One House Dem recently told me that his party should consider lowering the filibuster margin from 60 to 55 votes, citing the 1977 rules change that knocked it down from 67 votes to 60.
So given that accepted truism of House-Senate relations, it's hard not to grin at this exchange, which occurred during Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) press briefing today:
QUESTION: Speaker Pelosi, it's a lot easier to pass legislation through the House than it is in the Senate...PELOSI: You notice that?
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
For crissake. The Dems have 58 votes. All they need is to attract a tiny number of Republican votes, which, given that the economy is going down the crapper and it's the public's #1 issue, should be easy. If they can't pass this bill it won't be because of the filibuster, it will be because they're incompetent boobs, a possibility I'm perfectly willing to entertain.
February 4, 2009 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL. It'll get done. But will it be done before or after the Coleman/Franken election is decided? I wonder if Vegas has odds on which quagmire (or becoming a quagmire) will end first?
February 4, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Suggestion : make the Republicans filibuster.
Not 'threat of filibuster' - actually filibuster.
Make them stay up all night, reading out of the phone book, droning on for thirty six hours ... let the whole populus see them on TV wasting everyone's time.
They will look likes jackasses.
What else have they got besides obstruction and disproved theories ?
February 4, 2009 2:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now _there's_ an idea!
Wait... That would take balls. Something Senate Dems seem to lack altogether.
February 4, 2009 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everyone write their Senators!!!
Let's push for a real filibuster if they threaten. I've always wanted a reason to watch C-SPAN!
February 4, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
You mean you don't watch "Book TV"?
I'm mostly kidding, though I've watched it myself, on occasion, if only to listen to the wingnuts that call in...
February 4, 2009 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. Get a bill together that is supported by all 58 democrats and let the GOP filibuster. Let them stand on the floor reading aloud Harry Potter while the economy goes to shit around them.
February 4, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
OOOOoooooh--reading Harry Potter? There goes the base!
February 4, 2009 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
No cowering in fear at the threat of a filibuster. Just make them filibuster.
February 4, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think they have to do that. Just make them vote on it. Get them on the record. I don't think they can get 40 votes to stop a cloture motion. If they do, keep bringing it back again and again. Let them try to explain to the folks back home why their priorities are more important than their constituents' jobs. They might talk a good game, but I don't believe the R's have the stomach for it.
February 4, 2009 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd be ok with this, although I'd really like to see an actual filibuster.
I would argue only with this:
I think you've got your party labels interchanged.
February 4, 2009 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
No doubt some will, but they've got to get nearly all the Republican votes. I guess I should have said that not all Republicans will have the stomach for it. All they need is a handful to cross over, and with the number of R's running in 2010 in states that Obama won, that shouldn't be that hard. It really shouldn't. Not on an issue like this that the public is solidly behind. If they can't manage to pass this, how are they going to manage issues like health care?
February 4, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
You missed my sarcasm.
I don't think Democrats have the stomach for this.
February 4, 2009 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, I didn't.
February 4, 2009 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is the great fear of forcing the GOP into a filibuster? Why does Reid avoid it like the plague. As noted, they'll look foolish if they actually filibuster. Get 56-59 votes behind the bill (maybe one or two Republicans in the mix) then call their bluff. If they actually filibuster, they'll look silly and people not familiar with the rules - ie, most of the voting public - will ask, "Wait a minute....58 Senators approve of this legislation? What's this all about, then? Move on."
Seriously, why do they NEVER call the GOP's bluff?
February 4, 2009 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with one caveat: Round up the list of "crazy" liberal pork, all $3-5 billion of it (5% of the bill?), drop it from the bill, then put this to a vote.
February 4, 2009 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
They tried that in the House. They're either going to vote for it or they won't. The lame excuses they give publicly aren't the real reasons, so addressing them won't matter.
Bring the damn thing up for a vote. Make them get on the record.
February 4, 2009 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't get me wrong; let's put all that "crazy" pork in the next bill. I just think an eleventh hour move where the Dems list all of the stuff they pulled at Repug request and then immediately put it to a vote will knock the wind out of them. They might not even be able to gain consensus on filibuster in time. All of this, of course, depends on the incredible Harry Reid actually getting every Dem vote.
February 4, 2009 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pull all the crazy pork out and you'll get the Republican votes...(and a bunch in the house if it stays out of the compromise bill) that's the whole argument.
February 4, 2009 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shorter SFCWallace: pass more tax cuts for the wealthy, because we've seen how well those worked for the last eight years.
February 4, 2009 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that getting the bill out to a vote is the better way right now. We're filling the vacuum with the noise of Republican Senators criticizing every little bit of the bill. It's time to stop that.
Sequester the Dems and hammer out what needs to be pulled out.
Gosh, these folks in the Senate are tiring and trying. These are the same damned Democratic FOOLS who voted for the Iraq War.
February 4, 2009 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
OK. I just wrote both of my Senators to have an actual filibuster if it comes down to it.
February 4, 2009 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent ! You beat me to it, colleague ...
February 4, 2009 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey all. Check out this interactive map on usatoday showing the impact of this package.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-02-03-stimulus_N.htm
February 4, 2009 3:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Republicans won't support that package, Summers said, "it defines those who aren't prepared to support major action to help the economy."
Sounds to me like Obama & team are starting to turn on the heat.
February 4, 2009 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Easy answer..."We support major action to help the economy. We don't support Billions wasted on pet Democrat projects that can wait for the proper appropriations procedure."
February 4, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
an even easier followup: Rep. Cantor? Why are you blocking something that could produce 100,000 jobs?
February 4, 2009 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Memo to U.S. Senators: If you keep your job you will only make $169,000. If you do something politically courageous and wind up losing your job, you can cash in like all your colleagues before you. Trust me, the pay is much better on the outside.
February 4, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the economy continues its downward slide--with no apparent end in sight yet--then politicians and other "captains" may not have a well-paying audience for their nonsense. There's already a turn on the "over 500,000 executive crowd" that was voiced by pols but reflects the public sentiment.
These politicians can't be certain of an equivalent or better job if they lose the next election.
February 4, 2009 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink