What 60 Democratic Senate Votes Really Means: Welcome to the Age of Ben Nelson »
Posted By scott4261 4 months ago in Political Opinion
Dan Sweeney, July 1, 2009
Following yesterday's final confirmation of Al Franken as the new senator from Minnesota, thus ushering in the Al Franken Decade 20 years too late, all the talk on last night's political shows was of the magic number 60. Of course, multiple guests on all the cable talk channels were quick to point out that the new number of Senate Democrats was mostly a formality. After all, over the last 15 years or so, the filibuster has become a matter of course in the Senate rather than the exception to the rule. Almost any major bill requires ending a filibuster before a vote can be taken, and that means all the GOP needs to do is convince one Democrat to cross the aisle.
But that explanation of the meaning behind the numbers is only half right. Getting to 60 Democratic votes in the Senate does represent a seismic shift in power. Previously, it was up to the Democrats to keep their people in line and, at the same time, woo a moderate Republican (read: the women from Maine) into joining the Democratic ranks on a cloture vote. But that is no longer the case. Now, it is the Republicans who must keep their people in line and convince a Democrat to come to the other side. That may seem like a small shift, but it has could have big implications.
Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe lost a huge amount of power yesterday. As of June 29, the battle to get to 60 votes focused primarily on them. But now, the focus will be on moderate Democrats rather than moderate Republicans. Now, while the senators from Maine still have an important position in ending a filibuster, the main focus of entreaties to stay with the home team or play ball with the opposing side will be folks like Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Nelson is the most obvious target, as he has broken ranks more often than other Democrats in the past. But other potential flips include Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor in Arkansas, Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, Evan Bayh in Indiana, and several more. The long list of moderate Senate Democrats makes flipping just one of them far easier than the Democrats' job of grabbing one of the Maine senators: Perhaps that's one silver lining to the GOP's transformation into a hardline conservative party with few moderate voices, though the trade-off -- the GOP's status as a relatively small minority party -- makes that silver lining hardly worthwhile.
Going forward, the result in real terms of this shift in power will be minuscule, in terms of effects on major legislation....
(for complete op-ed, click here):
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scott4261
OK, folks...
I have been spending way too much time on propeller lately...
.....I don't do the whole social media crap very well anyway ...
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wesxauto4 months ago
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50%
Klarissa4 months ago
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U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
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The Outstanding Public Debt as of 03 Jul 2009 at 06:21:25 PM GMT is:
$ 1 1 , 5 2 5 , 7 0 0 , 9 5 3 , 3 0 2 . 1 6
The estimated population of the United States is 306,481,458
so each citizen's share of this debt is $37,606.52.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.91 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House! -
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Klarissa4 months ago
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www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/03/17/politics/politica...
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March 17, 2009 4:30 PM
National Debt Hits Record $11 Trillion
The Federal Government’s flood of red ink hit another high-water mark as the Treasury Department quietly reported today that the National Debt hit $11-trillion for the first time ever.
To be exact, the Debt now stands at $11,033,157,578,669.78. Divide it by the U.S. population and it comes up to over $36,000 in debt for every man, woman and child among us.
And the government is running up mountains of debt with increasing speed. It took just over 5 ½ months for Uncle Sam to go another trillion dollars deeper in debt since hitting $10-trillion last September 30th. It’s the fastest jump in U.S. history.
The hundreds of billions of dollars being spent as part of the federal bailout of the financial markets is a leading factor in the rapid increase. Over $400-billion in debt has been accrued in the 57 days since President Obama took office.
And the federal budget he unveiled last month projects even faster increases in the National Debt. It’ll hit $12.7-trillion by the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. The Administration’s four year estimate shows that by the end of September 2012, the Debt will have soared to $16.2-trillion – which amounts to nearly 100% of the projected Gross Domestic Product that year.
The U.S. is running up so much debt so quickly, some investors are worried. Over the weekend, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who says his country has about a trillion dollars invested in U.S. Treasury notes, said he wanted a guarantee.
President Obama said Wen’s got nothing to worry about.
“Not just the Chinese government, but every investor, can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States,” he said on Saturday.
That’s because the U.S. government’s power to tax stands behind all of its debt. If Uncle Sam ever needs a bailout, then as now, taxpayers get nailed.-
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Goppy4 months ago
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CBS ... hey ... isn't that part of the Vast Liberal Conspiracy dominating Mainstream Media?
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Hmmm ... sounds like y'all are coming around to the fact that Mainstream Media simply reports the facts ... and FOX reports Propaganda.
This is an improvement.
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lloydm654 months ago
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I totaltly disagree that Collin's,or Snowe have lost a smidgen of power,and will raise their ugly heads to vote against America at the same old pace.There are two kinds of snakes in Washington, those you can see,and those in the in the grass.
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simonsez4 months ago
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Neither party likes partisan wins because it means they will be held responsible when it goes bad (and it nearly always go bad).
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They want to be able to defend it with the old " it was a bi-partison decision with a bi-partison vote" story.
There is nothing a politician hates more than being held responsible for their decisions. They must learn quickly to "duck" when the tough gets even tougher. -
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