Filibuster

Polls show that frustration with Washington has never been higher — and who could argue? Most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Most lawmakers openly concede that nothing will get done before the November elections. The leaders of both parties are already trading threats over the possibility of a national debt default next year. Barack Obama got elected by promising to change the tone in Washington, but clearly he's failed, as George W. Bush did before him. That should be a clue that the partisan animosity consuming the political system doesn't originate in the White House.

There's a tendency among voters disgusted by the discord in Washington to declare a pox on both parties, blaming them equally for the partisan rancor and gridlock. Because both sides offer up periodic examples of stubbornness and stupidity, it can be difficult for a casual observer to sort out who is most blameworthy. And that's why a new book by Thomas Mann, a senior fellow in governance studies at the center-left Brookings Institution, and Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, is an important contribution to understanding today's politics.

WASHINGTON -- Both political parties are to blame for the impasse on confirming President Bush's judicial nominees, says Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "No one wants to back down, and no one wants to lose face," the Republican said yesterday in his first interview with Washington reporters since disclosing he has Hodgkin's disease. Specter will initiate this year's confirmation battles between Bush and the Democrats by holding hearings on the nominations of William G. Myers, who was blocked last year, on Tuesday, and US District Judge...

Polls show that frustration with Washington has never been higher — and who could argue? Most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Most lawmakers openly concede that nothing will get done before the November elections. The leaders of both parties are already trading threats over the possibility of a national debt default next year. Barack Obama got elected by promising to change the tone in Washington, but clearly he's failed, as George W. Bush did before him. That should be a clue that the partisan animosity consuming the political system doesn't originate in the White House.

There's a tendency among voters disgusted by the discord in Washington to declare a pox on both parties, blaming them equally for the partisan rancor and gridlock. Because both sides offer up periodic examples of stubbornness and stupidity, it can be difficult for a casual observer to sort out who is most blameworthy. And that's why a new book by Thomas Mann, a senior fellow in governance studies at the center-left Brookings Institution, and Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, is an important contribution to understanding today's politics.

WASHINGTON -- Senators trying to broker a compromise on judicial filibusters said yesterday that an agreement was possible before a crucial vote this week set by majority Republicans to break the logjam on President Bush's judicial nominees. Two senators leading talks among the dozen or so lawmakers who could force a deal spoke of the chance of averting a showdown, with a meeting set for today. But Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, said on separate television news programs that an agreement that would protect the rights of the minority...

WASHINGTON - The new top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday he's inclined against using a filibuster to block President Obama's nominee to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama said a deal among centrist senators four yours ago that averted filibusters against some of former president George W. Bush's judicial nominees established a "standard" that should not be discarded except in unusual circumstances. Sessions, however, didn't entirely rule out a filibuster.

WASHINGTON -- In a case of legislative déjà vu, Senator Russell D. Feingold launched another lonely filibuster against the USA Patriot Act, but sponsors predicted enough support to overcome the tactic and extend parts of the law, which is set to expire March 10. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, said protracted talks with the White House over the law's protections for civil liberties produced only a "fig leaf" to cover weaknesses that...

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats promised a series of votes next week on offshore oil drilling as Republicans agreed yesterday to let the Senate proceed on a defense bill that had been bottled up because of partisan disputes over the country's energy priorities. Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he is ready to take up two proposals that would allow limited oil and gas drilling 50 miles off Florida's Gulf coast and in the Atlantic off four Southeastern states as well as a broader Republican drilling bill.

WASHINGTON -- A Democrat who plans to vote against Samuel Alito yesterday sided with a Republican colleague on the Senate Judiciary Committee in cautioning against a filibuster of the Supreme Court nominee. "I do not see a likelihood of a filibuster," said Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. "This might be a man I disagree with, but it doesn't mean he shouldn't be on the court. " Feinstein said she will not vote to confirm the appeals court judge, based on his conservative record.

WASHINGTON - Raising the partisan temperature in the Senate, majority leader Harry Reid on Monday used a parliamentary tactic designed to end a Republican filibuster against 17 of President Obama's judicial nominees. Reid, whose move infuriated Republicans, has been complaining for months about the slow pace of confirmations of the president's picks for the federal bench. Republicans have argued the pace is consistent with Democratic approvals of President George W. Bush's court nominees.

IN HIS Aug. 2 letter about the debt issue, Thomas C. Wahlberg writes of "revisionist history and a strictly blame-the-Republicans meme," adding that "the Democrats controlled all branches of government and could have crafted whatever plan they chose. " Crafted, perhaps, but passed? No. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put it last year, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president. " McConnell's minority Republicans have used the filibuster to stop most of Obama's initiatives and "holds" by a single senator to block many Obama...

WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled Senate yesterday cleared away a Republican filibuster of a huge end-of-year spending bill that rewards most federal agencies with generous budget boosts. The $1.1 trillion measure combines much of the year’s unfinished budget work - only a $626 billion Pentagon spending measure would remain - into a 1,000-plus-page spending bill that would give the Education Department, the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and others increases far exceeding inflation.

WASHINGTON - Democrats crushed a Senate filibuster yesterday against a controversial appeals court nominee, demonstrating to Republicans they can’t stop President Obama from turning the federal judiciary to the left. The 70-to-29 vote limited debate over the qualifications of US District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana, and assured his elevation to the Chicago-based appeals court. Sixty votes were needed to end the filibuster, but confirmation requires only a simple majority of the 100-member Senate.

WASHINGTON - Republicans won't try to filibuster Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, a key GOP senator conceded yesterday, all but admitting there's little chance of blocking her confirmation as the first Hispanic justice. But Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, made it clear that Republicans are ready to raise pointed questions about whether she would let her personal life color her legal opinions - and whether that is appropriate for a Supreme Court justice.

WASHINGTON - The new top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday he's inclined against using a filibuster to block President Obama's nominee to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama said a deal among centrist senators four yours ago that averted filibusters against some of former president George W. Bush's judicial nominees established a "standard" that should not be discarded except in unusual circumstances. Sessions, however, didn't entirely rule out a filibuster.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, said yesterday he is prepared to strip Democrats of their ability to filibuster if they try to stall the nomination to the Supreme Court of Samuel A. Alito Jr. "The answer is yes," Frist said when asked if he would act to change Senate procedures to restrict a Democratic filibuster. "Supreme Court justice nominees deserve an up-or-down vote, and it would be absolutely wrong to deny him that. " Democrats immediately called Frist's words unhelpful and potentially incendiary.

WASHINGTON -- The views that Samuel Alito expressed on reapportionment in a 20-year-old document could jeopardize his Supreme Court nomination and provoke a filibuster, a leading Democratic senator said yesterday. "I think he's got a lot of explaining to do, and depending on how he does I think will determine whether or not he has a problem," said Senator Joseph Biden, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which plans confirmation hearings in early January. In 1985, Alito was applying to become deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration.

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats promised a series of votes next week on offshore oil drilling as Republicans agreed yesterday to let the Senate proceed on a defense bill that had been bottled up because of partisan disputes over the country's energy priorities. Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he is ready to take up two proposals that would allow limited oil and gas drilling 50 miles off Florida's Gulf coast and in the Atlantic off four Southeastern states as well as a broader Republican drilling bill.

WASHINGTON -- In a case of legislative déjà vu, Senator Russell D. Feingold launched another lonely filibuster against the USA Patriot Act, but sponsors predicted enough support to overcome the tactic and extend parts of the law, which is set to expire March 10. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, said protracted talks with the White House over the law's protections for civil liberties produced only a "fig leaf" to cover weaknesses that...