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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he supports the move by Senate Democrats to make it harder for Republicans to block his nominees.

Obama spoke shortly after the Senate voted 52-48 to weaken the power of the filibuster. The rule change will make it harder for minority Republicans to block confirmation of the president’s nominees for judges and other top posts.

Obama says the “unprecedented pattern of obstruction” in Congress has left Americans more frustrated with Washington than ever. He said the pattern “isn’t normal” and isn’t based on substantive differences over his nominees.

The president says that as a former senator, he values the chamber’s powers. But he says some rules are now being used as a tool to “grind business to a halt.”

http://news.msn.com/us/senate-votes-to-curb-filibusters-on-many-nominees

Commentary by The Secular Jurist:  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had no other choice but to invoke the so-called “nuclear option.”  Republican obstructionism had already reached the point of undermining democracy in the U.S. Senate, which was undoubtedly their objective in abusing the filibuster to such an unprecedented degree.  The GOP only has itself to blame.  Had it not been so ideologically aggressive, there wouldn’t have been sufficient Democratic votes to approve this rule change.

9 thoughts on “Senate votes to curb filibusters on many nominees”

  1. The GOP doesn’t deserve the name republican, which is derived from Latin “res publica” or “the general/public interest”. Neither their policies or practices are in line with serving the common good.

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  4. I think this action by the Senate was absolutely necessary and should have been done years earlier. But at least it’s been done. No more wasting of time with filibustering.

    By the way, I love when you use your own words in your posts!

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