Did Bush need 60 votes to pass his destructive taxcuts for the wealthy?

[kentuck]

Of course not!

So why do the Democrats continue to cling to this rule? Democrats need 60 votes to pass meaningful legislation and Republicans need 51? And won't it happen again once Repubs are back in power?

[Laf.La.Dem.]

1. No No

We must play FAIR:puke:

[emulatorloo]

2. They need 60 votes for cloture though. If they can't get that, Republicans will filibuster until

the end of time. Either infinitely delaying or killing healthcare reform

Dems need cloture to get an up down vote. This is where Liebermann, Lincoln, etc are trying to screw things up.

http://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/cloture.htm

cloture - The only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and thereby overcome a filibuster. Under the cloture rule (Rule XXII), the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, but only by vote of three-fifths of the full Senate, normally 60 votes

[jwirr]

3. Unfortunately, during the boosh years our dems seldom fought back. nt

[csziggy]

6. And they are STILL not fighting back, even with a majority!

We need health care to give them all backbones - except maybe Grayson and Weiner.

[emulatorloo]

8. Reid and Pelosi seem to be working it pretty hard. We have a majority in the House, the margin is

pretty thin in the Senate, once you factor in the Blue Dogs and the Liebermans types

[csziggy]

12. I am impressed with the efforts that Reid and especially Pelosi are making

But disappointed in the Blue Dogs - if they stuck with their {supposed} party the way they supported Bush, we'd have gotten single payer by now. Gotta call Bill Nelson's office yet again to yell at his staff. Maybe I will even try calling Allen Boyd again, but as a Blue Dog leader, I don't think he will pay any attention to a progressive like me.

[emulatorloo]

7. Reid said earlier (Sept) that he was willing to go the reconciliation route if need be n/t

[piratefish08]

11. during the BUSH years??!!?! It's still going on...... nt

[SoCalDem]

9. Lock the republican bastards out.. like they did to us...or

just ignore time limits..like they did for that medicare part D vote..

[beac]

10. The 'virtual filibuster' will be the downfall of this country.

Reading the phone book, the Bible, War and Peace, etc. al la Jimmy Stewart is one thing, but when a single Senator can say 'I filibuster' and that's all it takes? Sickening. :puke:

[baldguy]

4. He had Blue Dogs & DINOs crawling all over themselves to grab onto his coattails.

The thing is Reid is pursuing a strategy that requires 60 votes instead of 51 - and the Dems don't really have 60 votes. THEY NEVER DID!

[liberal_at_heart]

5. I admire that they tried to start with bipartisanship

But it became very clear very early that Republicans were not going to compromise on anything and that the democrats would be doing all the compromising. We even started out in a compromised position. We should have started out with single payer universal healthcare. But now that we can't even get a partial public option I think it is time for the democrats in congress to fight. If the Republicans want to fillubuster let them. I completely agree that this shove policy down people's throats is the way the Republicans did business the entire eight years they were in office and will no doubt do again if they get back in office. You know why? Because it works.

[Alhena]

13. No, he did it by reconciliation, which is why the cuts sunset in 2010

so we can do the same with healthcare, but the same sunset provisions apply.