Republicans Filibuster Obama Interior Department Nominee
The Republicans have filibustered the nomination of David Hayes to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior. The move comes after Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) had put a hold on Hayes, supposedly because of the Obama Interior Department's decision to cancel oil and gas leases in Utah.
Holds, though, are informal--honored as a matter of courtesy within the Senate--and it seems like what happened is that the GOP blocked cloture in order to ensure that Bennett's hold wasn't ignored. We'll have more for you on that later today, but Bennett himself has said he'd lift the hold and vote for Hayes if and when the Interior Department addresses the cancellation of those leases.
The final tally was 57-39, with 60 votes required to end debate. CNN reported that if Hayes' nomination couldn't overcome this procedural hurdle, it would fail. But that's not necessarily true. Among the 39 senators voting to filibuster Hayes was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid--not, of course, because he opposes Hayes, but because it keeps Hayes' chances alive. That vote will allow him to bring the issue back to the floor at a later date when, presumably, the conflict is resolved.
Josh
Matt
Eric
So which Dems conveniently missed this vote? If Reid was one of the 39, which Goposaurs missed it?
May 13, 2009 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
'conveniently' may be a little cruel in at least one case- it pretty likely that Kennedy was one of the absent Dems
This is part of why I respectfully wish he would retire
May 13, 2009 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just followed up on this- the absent Dems were Kennedy, Kerry, and Mikulski.
Kyl and Snowe voted with the Dems, while Reid voted with the GOP for the procedural reasons explained in the story
May 13, 2009 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kerry, Mikulski and Reid would have made 60. WTF?
May 13, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kerry was attending a soldier's funeral in Massachusetts.
May 13, 2009 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Reid had switched, so would Kyl, so I think you'd still be one short.
May 13, 2009 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
FRANKEN!
Norm Coleman is a tool.
May 13, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not sure Kyl would necessarily have switched. He's a supporter of Hayes from the work he did while in Interior during the Clinton Administration.
May 13, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
The headline is wrong, they did not filibuster, they THREATENED to filibuster. I wish to god the Democrats would start making them actually filibuster...
May 13, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are correct, runfast. However, this is not the time and place. Wait til they threaten to filibuster on larger issues. Then call their bluff and make sure it is the #1 news headline.
May 13, 2009 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah I bet it's coming with healthcare, it's still frustrating though.
May 13, 2009 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Healthcare = Reconcilliation
Won't go to filibuster. Frankly will be watered down to get the 50 votes needed thans to jackasses like Nelson and Bayh.
John
May 13, 2009 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not so sure Nelson and Bayh alone can force the watering down of health care. Assuming Franken is seated then Nelson and Bayh would have to convince all the blue dogs in his little group to vote in line against the final bill's passage for reconciliation to fail.
Depending on how the issue is framed to the press, being instrumental in blocking health care would squash whatever future chances he has for his oval office ambitions.
May 13, 2009 11:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Even measures like Green GDP, which considers loss of habitat and environmental degradation, do not adequately capture institutionally sanctioned resource theft. The terms biopiracy and geopiracy are still used mainly to describe theft from proprietary knowledge of indigenous people, including appropriation of proprietary knowledge about the world. The DOI, which includes the Office of Surface Mining, the Minerals Management Service, the BLM, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the USGS, Fish & Wildlife is central to overseeing (or ignoring) resource exploitation. A good example of the institutional capture/owned legislator double-team was displayed in the 2006 Soda Ash Royalty Reduction Act sponsored by the late Craig Thomas of Wyoming.
May 14, 2009 1:20 AM | Reply | Permalink