USA: Democrats ditch historic U.S. Senate rule blamed for gridlock

From: Judy Miriga

Good People,

John Boehner ought to have done that, sign up for Insurance through Affordable care (Obamacare) long time ago; the moment it was made law. It is because, Law is Law and there is no BUTS or IFS about the Law. First instinct is to obey the law first, then talk later. It is how things are suppose to be done. Law is an order and you cannot talk over the law. If you have a problem with the law, you sign up first, and bring up your case later.

Here is what wise people in the democratic space will do. Knowing that the Government is a People’s project, all rich and poor must play by the same set of rules. People’s project demands that all (Rich and the Disadvantaged or Poor) must comply by the same set of rules as guiding principles to achieve whatever people want to achieve in life……..that, the Government is the resource pool for opportunity to all big and small people/ rich or disadvantaged.

Corporation are people, is undoubtedly true, because a group of affluence (rich) people decides to pull their power together to achieve a common business interest agenda for PROFIT MAKING in their network ……but that is only 1% of the group missions against those of the 99% of the population majority interest. This is the reason why the 1% cannot dictate and command over the interest of the 99% in the People’s Democratic Governance ……. if they do, then it stops being a People’s Democratic Government. It becomes the Rulership of the most powerful rich which in the essence is a DICTATORIAL GOVERNANCE by the rich who having succeeded in opposing the interest of the 99% of the majority, imposes their demands on the 99% of the population.

This is where the interest of the majority is weakened and have no say of how they wish to be governed, because the rich will have influenced and imposed their demands unfairly on the majority; in which case, the People’s Government of the majority 99% will have been overpowered and superseded by the 1% and the 1% becomes the MASTERS controlling and imposing their demands on the 99% who will have no option but to be swallowed into SLAVERY because their voted REPRESENTATIVES who are suppose to represent and protect their interest are bought off by the rich and compromised their service to people and engaged into conflict of interest to do and serve the will and demands of the 1%. Practically, they fail to go by PUBLIC MANDATE that had them voted into public service, instead of complying to the wishes and interest of their voters who carried the 99%, they switched interest to serve Corporation of Special Business Interest in public service delivery.

Good people, this was headed to end the People’s Government. Which is why, President Obama diligently kept the space in the bipartisan, knowing that he was elected by the people to DELIVER PUBLIC MANDATE. That, he is a custodian of the People’s Government and must pay attention to what the people want. It is the same reason why when the going gets tough at the Washington, he takes solace in the people’s Referendum; and it is because, in the democratic space of the People’s Government, people decides how they wish to be governed. It is the opposite of unfair Corporate Dictatorship Rule of imposing Special Business Interest demands on the majority people. This is unacceptable.

Selfish Greed is a cancer meant to destroy good intent of Love, Unity and Peace in harmony that are for common good of all people. Selfish Greed must be defeated to achieve harmony and happiness we all want. Which is why, filibuster rule was proposed by Hurry Reid in the Senate so that things can move in the right direction, and it is the good thing to do, to avoid gridlock and obstruction that stall people’s business from taking effect at the Washington because of Corporate Special Business Interest negativity and selfish greed of a few that are not for Public Interest Mandate. We shall expect a lot of drama, because they want to resist everything and anything a BLACK PRESIDENT is about to bring to the people………….to them, BLACK IS EVIL………and have not RIGHT to go down in record in the books of HISTORY………..BUT, we all must be watchful and resist any kind of pressure that are driving people to SLAVERY, because, we cannot go back to those dark days………. the days of unwarranted killings, pain and sufferings that bring no good to this wonderful great Nation that leads the world. ALSO, they have to learn that, BLACK IS A PEARL OF LOVE, PEACE, UNITY AND HAPPINESS. That they should stop HATING BLACK and begin to adjust so we can all be ONE. That BLACK is only a COLOR and when we are all dead, WE ALL RESEMBLE THE SOIL OF THE EARTH……………

JF Kennedy was WHITE, but had the heart that welcomed all people of color. He knew that people cannot form barrier amongst themselves. That all had talents and skills to contribute to the well being of all. He saw this 50years ago and walked the path of PEACE and UNITY. He knew what the people want is the right thing to do. He remained firm to do the will of the people and persistently pushed for Public Mandate. He was killed because special business interest did not want to hear about People’s Civil Rights with other to do list that was going to be made into a LAW to become a BILL. After he was killed, Civil Rights Bill with all other bills still became the LAW. Why then did they have to kill JF Kennedy??? …….. The answer is simple……..Selfish Greed.

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – –

Democrats ditch historic U.S. Senate rule blamed for gridlock

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, in a historic and bitterly fought rule change, stripped Republicans on Thursday of their ability to block President Barack Obama’s judicial and executive branch nominees.

The action fundamentally altered the way Congress’ upper chamber has worked since the mid-19th century by making it impossible for a minority party, on its own, to block presidential appointments, except those to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The change in the so-called “filibuster” rule does not apply to legislation, which can still be held up by a handful of senators.

The now-defunct rule, a symbol of Washington gridlock, has survived dozens of attacks over the years largely because both major political parties like to use it.

The action will undoubtedly come back to haunt Democrats the next time they lose the Senate and the White House simultaneously. Getting rid of it was considered so momentous and divisive that it was dubbed the “nuclear option” in the Senate.

On a nearly party-line vote of 52-48, the Senate reduced from 60 to 51 the number of votes needed to end procedural roadblocks.

Obama, a former senator, praised the action, calling the filibuster “a reckless and relentless tool to grind all business to a halt.”

The change will speed up the confirmation of Obama appointments to the courts as well as to cabinet and regulatory agencies.

One beneficiary is likely to be Representative Mel Watt, whose nomination to take over the agency that regulates mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was being blocked by Republicans.

But the immediate spark was Democratic frustration at Republican use of the filibuster to block Obama’s appointments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, considered the nation’s second most important court after the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Washington-based appeals court handles crucial disputes over the powers of the presidency and Congress, along with regulatory matters involving air and water pollution, banks, securities trading, telecommunications and labor relations. It has also been a feeder to the Supreme Court, with four of the current justices being former D.C. Circuit judges.

NEW RULE USED QUICKLY

Democrats quickly used the new rule by ending a Republican filibuster against one of those court nominees, Patricia Millett, on a vote of 55-43. A vote to confirm her nomination will be held later.

Millett is a Harvard-trained lawyer who worked in the administration of both Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican President George W. Bush. The American Bar Association gave her its top rating for the D.C. Circuit post.

As is often the case with stalled nominations, Republicans did not contend that Millet lacked qualifications. They simply do not want to give Obama more appointments to the important court, which they argue is underworked anyway.

For nearly two years, Republicans held up confirmation of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because they objected to the bureau’s powers, not to Cordray, who has since been confirmed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, led the charge on the rules change, accusing Republicans of record obstructionism and saying the American public is right to believe that “Congress is broken.”

Reid said that of the 168 filibusters against presidential nominees in U.S. history, half were held against Obama’s picks.

“It’s time to change,” Reid said.

Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa fired back, “This is a naked power grab.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell insisted that there was no reason for a rule change, saying Republicans had confirmed the vast majority of Obama’s judicial nominees.

McConnell also accused Democrats of taking the action merely to divert attention from the botched launch of Obama’s healthcare law, known as Obamacare.

But with Congress’s approval rating in single digits and no indication Republicans will compromise with Obama on much of anything, Reid decided to pull the trigger.

Reid assumes that voters, who polls show are disgusted with a largely “do-nothing” Congress, won’t be upset by a rule change to confirm stalled nominees, Democratic aides said.

Reid also figured that if he did not change the rules, that increasingly anti-compromise Republicans would change them when they win control of the Senate, which could happen in next year’s election, the aides said.

Stephen Hess, a congressional analyst at The Brookings Institution, said, “There’s a good reason why it’s called ‘the nuclear option.’ This does change the system.”

“And whether it’s good or bad depends on from whence you view it and at what moment,” Hess said. “It is good for Democrats on the 21st of November, 2013. And it may not be good (for Democrats) if the landscape changes in the mid-term election” next year and Republicans take control of the Senate.

Asked whether the Democrats’ move could worsen relations with Republicans and make it more difficult to pass legislation, Hess said “I don’t know that relations this bad can get an awful lot worse.”

(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro, Richard Cowan and David Lawder; Editing by Vicki Allen, Fred Barbash and Tim Dobbyn)

=================================

John Boehner Has Officially Signed Up For Insurance Through Obamacare

Speaker.gov

House Speaker John Boehner has officially enrolled in a D.C. insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act, he said in a blog post on his website Thursday evening, after having some difficulty signing up earlier in the afternoon.

“Like many Americans, my experience was pretty frustrating,” he wrote of his experience at first, a reference to the dysfunction that has plagued the exchange websites since their launch.

“After putting in my personal information, I received an error message. I was able to work past that, but when I went to actually sign up for coverage, I got this ‘internal server error’ screen.”

In his original blog post, he wrote that he had put a call into the help desk. A short while later, he added an update:

“Kept at it, and called the DC Health Link help line. They called back a few hours later, and after re-starting the process on the website two more times, I just heard from DC Health Link that I have been successfully enrolled.”

Brendan Buck, Boehner’s press secretary, joked that “sure didn’t take long after the blog post.”

The federal health care law requires members to enroll in D.C. exchanges.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *