Bid to end senators' 'secret holds' advances

[cory777]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — In the Senate, every man or woman can be king.

Each can hold up a billion-dollar spending bill on a whim, or block one of the president's nominees from ever getting a hearing.

Whether they're in the majority or minority doesn't matter. They also don't even have to explain why. But the best part of all?

They never have to admit that they did it.

So blame Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri if pretty soon it's just not as much fun as it used to be.




Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/17/96107/bid-to-end-senators-secret-holds.html

[OnyxCollie]

1. K&R. nt

[happygoluckytoyou]

20. HERE IS THE ADDRESS mccaskill.senate.gov/

show her the love

[Ken Burch]

2. Can one of them put a secret hold on the bill, though?

n/t.

[pinboy3niner]

3. Heh heh.

Shhhh. Don't give them any ideas!

[drm604]

15. That's my fear.

There are obviously some who like this since they do use it at times.

Since they can do it in secret it stands to reason that one of them will.

[lamp_shade]

4. This is very good news. A week ago she had 65 votes. Keep at it Claire.

[Divine Discontent]

5. nice

[Scuba]

6. Let's hope this gets done. The secret hold is a travesty.

[Kringle]

7. time to get rid of,,, non roll-call voting .nt

[redqueen]

17. Indeed. (nt)

[Delphinus]

8. This could prove

to be very interesting. Whether it passes or not, that's kind of doubtful. The audit of the Fed had much support among us "small" people, but it is now dead.

[patrice]

9. K + R

[Demeter]

10. Oooh, Yes!

About time we had OPEN government.

[Demeter]

11. Wiki Has Some Info, But Not When This Practice Started

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_hold

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[Jefferson23]

13. Thank you Senator McCaskill, 5 Stars for you!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Claire does like cleaning up corruption

It's been fun to watch her in the Senate.

[dotymed]

16. This bill should pass.

It should have never been allowed to exist in a supposedly free society. I just don't have a lot of confidence since our Democratic party has become so right wing that the very idea of people before profits, is unfathomable by all of the bought and paid for (most) politicians.

[Ozymanithrax]

18. I don't know if they can hold a change in Senate rules...

This isn't a bill, and doesn't have to be approved or signed by the House or the President. It does require 66 votes, as I recall.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[Ozymanithrax]

25. I can not imagine what I said to piss somebody off. n/t

[usregimechange]

21. that's my Senator

[valerief]

22. I sent her a thank you! nt

[awoke_in_2003]

23. bring back the real filibuster, too...

the way it is done now sucks- it requires no sacrifice. If they want to filibuster, let them stand there and read phone books or whatever. Let the american public see the assholery in action.

[lurky]

24. Wow! My opinion of McCaskill just got a huge boost.

If they keep this up, the Senate might become an actual functioning government body. If only we could fix the fundamental inequality of the Senate...

[donheld]

26. long overdue