Its funny how the ignorant think the democrats are the party of the people and those greedy rascally republicans are only for the one percent. Consider this. Democrats champion the poor because they create an environment where class warfare thrives. They want you poor, they want you using as many entitlements as possible, because guess what? If you had an opportunity to be wealthy you wouldn't care about entitlements and minimum wage programs. Employment is up but the jobs are either minimum wage or less than they were making before Obama's reign. Then they sow the seeds of discord by claiming that all conservatives are bible toting racists or "bad Christians" as Obama says. Obama had the Senate for most of his first term and the country was in the toilet. He would love to take credit for the economy but it is not his policies. Republican Governors are creating more jobs in their states than any democratic governor because democrats want people poor and disenfranchised. This country is the worst I have seen it since the sixties. The racial divide, police brutality and rise of ISIS are all results of Obama's failed foreign policies and lack of experience. But democrats would have run for Dave Chapelle if he ran just to elect a black man for the historical ramifications qualified or not. Funny how everything that Romney said would come true under Obama has. The rise of China, ISIS, and his lawless destruction of our constitution which this nominee backs.
1
Apparently most NYT readers want to confirm as AG a person who
1. Has said she will not enforce immigration law
2. Has not answered Senator Vitter's questions about her allegedly soft handling of the HSBC money laundering case
1. Has said she will not enforce immigration law
2. Has not answered Senator Vitter's questions about her allegedly soft handling of the HSBC money laundering case
1
If i was Ms. Lynch, I would withdraw my nomination now, right before the vote as a protest against being used as a political pawn.
The Human Trafficking Bill is a very good idea, but to become executive is another story.
Fighting Traffickers is like fighting Mafia: nobody knows who is behind them and could be like opening a Pandora's box.
Joust one example: fighting traffickers in Libya, would be the solution of the deathly Mediterranean trafficking, but Libya is actually invaded by ISIS, weakly opposed by the inefficient Libyan Army and Government.
Traffickers seem to operate as free lancers, but if a western armed force will fight them on the Libyan territory, nobody can say that ISIS will not side traffickers to fight the “Crusaders”.
Arab allies (like Saudi Arabia or Egypt) would cause no different ISIS' and traffickers' reaction.
Therefore a better idea would be to fight ISIS first, but until now nobody had the courage until today to attack ISIS on the ground, because air strikes have little effect.
The White House should then carefully examine the drawbacks and hidden intentions and dangers of this Senate bill.
Fighting Traffickers is like fighting Mafia: nobody knows who is behind them and could be like opening a Pandora's box.
Joust one example: fighting traffickers in Libya, would be the solution of the deathly Mediterranean trafficking, but Libya is actually invaded by ISIS, weakly opposed by the inefficient Libyan Army and Government.
Traffickers seem to operate as free lancers, but if a western armed force will fight them on the Libyan territory, nobody can say that ISIS will not side traffickers to fight the “Crusaders”.
Arab allies (like Saudi Arabia or Egypt) would cause no different ISIS' and traffickers' reaction.
Therefore a better idea would be to fight ISIS first, but until now nobody had the courage until today to attack ISIS on the ground, because air strikes have little effect.
The White House should then carefully examine the drawbacks and hidden intentions and dangers of this Senate bill.
Imagine trying to pass meaningful legislation like the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, or The 1968 Fair Housing Act today? Imagine passing the Clean Air Act or any other historic initiatives like public financing of campaigns.
To initiate any meaningful legislation today it takes essentially 60 votes. It use to take 67 votes before Walter Mondale got the Senate to reduce the high bar of obstruction back in the day when the filibuster was used by segregationists to delay and obstruct.The historic legislation previously mentioned all required 67 votes to invoke cloture and end debate.
Revisiting this history I am now more distressed than ever because when something meaningful is tried, like affordable health care compromise immediately turns to a zero sum game.
Lack of compromise leads to justice delayed. History taught us painfully, a zero sum approach breeds contentment and builds distrust when one party has to win or lose. There are tens of thousands of fellow citizens buried in national and private cemeteries across the land that died in the Civil War because we could not resolve the unfinished business of the founding fathers to end slavery.
Today, I pray that someday people like Walter Mondale, Phil Hart, Everette Dirksen, Hubert Humphrey, Howard Baker will once again walk the floor of the Senate. People who will improve the lives of others.
Today Senators spend their time raising money to denigrate the opposition.
So little time for meaningful work.
To initiate any meaningful legislation today it takes essentially 60 votes. It use to take 67 votes before Walter Mondale got the Senate to reduce the high bar of obstruction back in the day when the filibuster was used by segregationists to delay and obstruct.The historic legislation previously mentioned all required 67 votes to invoke cloture and end debate.
Revisiting this history I am now more distressed than ever because when something meaningful is tried, like affordable health care compromise immediately turns to a zero sum game.
Lack of compromise leads to justice delayed. History taught us painfully, a zero sum approach breeds contentment and builds distrust when one party has to win or lose. There are tens of thousands of fellow citizens buried in national and private cemeteries across the land that died in the Civil War because we could not resolve the unfinished business of the founding fathers to end slavery.
Today, I pray that someday people like Walter Mondale, Phil Hart, Everette Dirksen, Hubert Humphrey, Howard Baker will once again walk the floor of the Senate. People who will improve the lives of others.
Today Senators spend their time raising money to denigrate the opposition.
So little time for meaningful work.
3
Even now it's hard to believe that the Republicans would allow Lynch a vote were it not for the fact that they hate Holder.
I remember when the Senate voted down the first President Bush's nomination of John Tower as Defense Secretary in 1989. it was the first time a cabinet nominee had been rejected in 30 years, and it was based on allegations of misconduct and conflict of interest.
Now to many in the GOP it's evidently grounds for rejection of a nominee that she shares the views of the president who nominated her. Pathetic.
I remember when the Senate voted down the first President Bush's nomination of John Tower as Defense Secretary in 1989. it was the first time a cabinet nominee had been rejected in 30 years, and it was based on allegations of misconduct and conflict of interest.
Now to many in the GOP it's evidently grounds for rejection of a nominee that she shares the views of the president who nominated her. Pathetic.
6
GOP = Greedy Obstructionist Party
6
I wonder how the Republicans would have reacted had there been a Republican president in office and Senate Democrats were holding up a vote for more than five months for their Attorney General nominee...But what irks me more today than anything else is the temerity of these Republicans who were allowed to obstruct just about everything during the first two critical years of President Obama's first term -- when the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate! Why Harry Reid didn't do anything to put that nonsense to a stop is beyond me. If you recall, we, as a country, were teetering on the edge of total economic collapse and the Republicans were doing everything in their power to derail efforts to both accelerate the pace of recovery and limit the pain and the suffering of the innocent victims. And, in this context, it's also important to remember that it was the policies promoted by these very same Republicans which brought on our economic storm: financial deregulation i.e. the repeal of Glass-Steagal, etc.
7
the hypocrisy at the heart of government is Truly Breathtaking.
its no mystery as to why America is comparable to a huge pot forever boiling over,
unable to settle down.
it would be better for America to be governed by blind people with a better sense of Justice
than to be governed by people that can see with their eyes but fail to see the gross injustice they cause.
I think it is safe to say that the latest idea coming from the senate will fail to produce anything beneficial.
its no mystery as to why America is comparable to a huge pot forever boiling over,
unable to settle down.
it would be better for America to be governed by blind people with a better sense of Justice
than to be governed by people that can see with their eyes but fail to see the gross injustice they cause.
I think it is safe to say that the latest idea coming from the senate will fail to produce anything beneficial.
The real question, looking forward, is just how many American voters will remember this come the next election. If they seriously mind the kind of stupid obstruction that characterizes the Republicans then they should vote the bums out. Will they do it?
18
Excuse me, but it was the Democrats who pulled out of a bipartisan agreement on this bill and obstructed its passage, because language they had no problem with in committee suddenly gave them a great public relations opportunity. While there have been numerous examples of Republican obstructionism, this was one of numerous examples of Democratic obstructionism.
3
mikecody, the Dems in opposing an abortion clause after the bill had already passed committee was not a great public relations opportunity. It was a very embarrassing mistake that they corrected leading to a compromise that both parties could agree upon.
What was a great public relations opportunity for the Dems was the Pub’s (Mitch McConnell) decision not to have a confirmation vote on Loretta Lynch until this Trafficking Bill was passed. It allowed the Dems to paint the Pubs as being anti-women, dysfunctional and not having the ability to walk and chew gun at the same time.
The time between Lynch’s nomination by Obama to her having a confirmation vote was atrocious. Also her impeccable experience, being confirmed once already by the Senate and with her being the first Black woman ever to be nominated for AG made this Pub decision look callous and petty.
What was a great public relations opportunity for the Dems was the Pub’s (Mitch McConnell) decision not to have a confirmation vote on Loretta Lynch until this Trafficking Bill was passed. It allowed the Dems to paint the Pubs as being anti-women, dysfunctional and not having the ability to walk and chew gun at the same time.
The time between Lynch’s nomination by Obama to her having a confirmation vote was atrocious. Also her impeccable experience, being confirmed once already by the Senate and with her being the first Black woman ever to be nominated for AG made this Pub decision look callous and petty.
6
It worked in the last election when Reid's obstructionism motivated the GOP and frustrated the Dems who had little record to run for reelection. I don't think he allowed any amendments to bills and few were even brought to the floor for a vote. People in glass houses...
The recent delay on voting for the new AG because of being tied to the Trafficking Bill or any other bill showed a reckless willingness for unnecessary dysfunction. This lack of respect for the AG candidate was reprehensible and embarrassing.
The vote for our AG should never be tied to another bill or used to prove a point.
The vote for our AG should never be tied to another bill or used to prove a point.
23
Senators reached "compromise", or Democrats capitulated? Which one is it?
2
Now most of the Republicans might finally get to vote against confirming a very qualified, African-American woman to replace an Attorney General they despise.
18
Mitch McConnell: "Well, now that the life-or-death sexual-trafficking bill is out of the way, what's next? Oh, right, the AG nominee. What's her name? It's been so long since the Committee took it up I can't rightly recall it just now. Well, after we torpedo the president's Iran nuclear deal, we might get around to the AG vote before the summer recess. I think."
15
If you have any respect for the law or sausage, you really don't want to watch either of them being made. This is just one more example.
6
Congress needs to stop dithering with the business of all Americans by attaching endless and unrelated amendments onto every other bill. Senator Vitter's move to attach an immigration amendment onto a human trafficking bill shows clearly where his priorities lie: obstruction. As far as legislative procedures go, wrangling over unrelated amendments has proven to be entirely divisive.
But, making a game out of a human trafficking bill, that is about as low as it gets.
But, making a game out of a human trafficking bill, that is about as low as it gets.
32