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Something important happened in the United States Senate last night. It may not be earth-shaking right now, but it could be extremely important in the coming year. Heritage.org posted the story late last night. The bottom line is that Harry Reid blocked a vote on President Obama’s jobs bill. That is not really news–the news is the way he went about blocking the bill.
The article reports the events that actually began the change in the Senate rules:
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had pledged to offer an unchanged version of the President’s American Jobs Act as an amendment to the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Bill (S. 1619). Reid stopped a vote on the President’s so called jobs bill by filling the amendment tree. Last year I wrote about Reid’s obstructionism and argued that Reid’s strong arm tactics by constantly filling the amendment tree as a means to block out all amendments were against the spirit and letter of the Senate’s rules.
The article further reports:
The maneuver is arcane but momentous. If a simple majority of the Senate votes with Reid and strikes down the ruling, the chamber’s precedent will be changed through the unilateral action of one party. Republicans had considered using this maneuver, dubbed the “nuclear option,” in 2005 to change Senate rules to prohibit the filibuster of judicial nominees. Democrats decried the plan and the crisis was resolved by a bipartisan agreement forged by 14 rank-and-file senators known as the Gang of 14.
This maneuver severely limits any input the minority party will have on bills brought before the Senate. I am sure there will be a lot of discussion about this move on talk radio today. In view of current events, this is a major step, but there is another aspect of this I would like to look at.
Sometime during this session of the United States Supreme Court, Obamacare will be discussed. As the Court stands right now, the decision could go either way–the deciding vote will be Justice Kennedy. If he votes to uphold Obamacare, he will have to explain why it is constitutional for the government to require every citizen to purchase health insurance. Let’s just suppose for a minute that filibusters of judicial nominees are no longer allowed in the Senate and Justice Kennedy steps down. The Obama Administration will nominate a judge who will support Obamacare and we will be stuck with national health care.
I understand that this scenario seems farfetched, but the left side of the political spectrum is rather desperate right now, and unfortunately, the left plans ahead better than the right does.
