Republicans are blocking every bill and every nomination just because they can. It’s bad for our country and time to get rid of the procedural filibuster. Get rid of Senate Rule 22.
(AP) A determined Republican stall campaign in the Senate has sidetracked so many of the men and women nominated by President Barack Obama for judgeships that he has put fewer people on the bench than any U.S. president since Richard Nixon at a similar point in his first term 40 years ago.
The delaying tactics have proved so successful, despite the Democrats’ substantial Senate majority, that fewer than half of Obama’s nominees have been confirmed and 102 out of 854 judgeships are vacant.
Forty-seven of those vacancies have been labeled emergencies by the judiciary because of heavy caseloads.
Even some Republican senators have complained. Sen. Lamar Alexander took to the Senate floor in July to plead with his own leaders for a vote on an appeals court judge supported by Alexander and fellow Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker.
With Congress returning Sept. 13 for a session shortened by members’ desire to campaign for re-election in November, there’s little time to reverse the trend. Some say there’s little chance of reversing it as polls show a rising chance the Republican Party will capture the Senate, which could stiffen Republican resistance to confirmation votes.
DRUDGE RETORT 