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Action
Alerts
Help Stop Democrat 'Judicial Armageddon'
ISSUE: Senate
Minority Leader (don't you love saying that?) Tom Daschle (D-SD)
is making a solemn vow: "We intend to do in the 108th
Congress, exactly what we did in the 107th Congress."
And what did the Daschle Democrats do in the 107th Congress? More
than anything else, they BLOCKED President Bush's initiatives and
judicial nominees. Over 100 seats on the federal bench are still
vacant.
On the opening day of the new Senate, the President re-nominated
all 31 of his nominees that were obstructed by Daschle's cronies
last year. Three of the biggest names that will be back for
another go-round are Judge Charles Pickering, Justice Pricilla
Owen and attorney Miguel Estrada.
Owen and Pickering were both rejected by the Democrat- controlled
Senate Judiciary Committee last session because liberal Democrats
were able to falsely paint Owen as a radical pro-life activist
and Pickering as an insensitive bigot. Estrada was viewed as too
conservative. But with Republicans in control now, it's a new
ball game.
True to form, at a meeting this month, Kate Michelman of the
ultra-liberal NARAL handed Senate Democrats their marching
orders: Filibuster President Bush's nominees.
Although it is the Senate tradition not to filibuster judicial
nominees, radical liberals like Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer, and
others have indicated they will use this parliamentary tactic to
block votes on all conservative nominees -- starting THIS
TUESDAY. Ralph Neas, head of the liberal group People for the
American Way, has called the coming battle "Judicial
Armageddon."
But this is a battle that, finally, conservatives can win -- with
your help:
http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/
<a href="http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/">
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Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation (freecongress.org)
noted recently that since the mid-1970s, the Senate has not had a
real filibuster, the kind that has Senators sleeping on cots,
with possible cloture votes in the middle of the night. Since
then the Senate has had only "Cadillac" filibusters.
The Family Research Council (frc.org) offers this background:
The Senate requires 60 votes to cut off debate, that is, to
override a senator's control of the floor. So long as a senator
is speaking on a bill -- filibustering -- no vote can be held
unless 60 senators agree to end the debate. Even if a bill has
enough votes to pass, the 60-vote rule and the filibuster can
stop any legislation dead in its tracks. Until the early 1980s,
filibusters were rare. Senators actually had to speak, for hour
upon hour, to block action on legislation. It's tough to speak
substantively for very long on a subject, so filibustering
senators often resorted to reading newspapers, reciting names
from phone books, reciting poetry or other foolishness. Unless a
senator could convince others to join his filibuster and keep the
"debate" rolling, the speaker usually ran out of gas
and a vote was held.
In the 1980s, however, the two parties struck a "gentleman's
agreement" to suspend the filibuster. It's now only required
that a senator inform the majority leader of his intention to
filibuster and a vote on legislation is suspended unless 60
senators agree to cut off the "debate." This
gives any one senator the power to block a vote on any
legislation.
Republican Senators under Sen. Bill Frist have an opportunity to
make the Democrat obstructionists "put up or shut up"
-- and conservatives across America need to let the GOP know that
it's time to "call their bluff."
ACTION ITEM: To stop the shameless "fake
filibuster" strategy on the part of Daschle and friends,
Sen. Frist must return to the days of the real filibuster. He
should announce that senators who threaten to filibuster judicial
nominations will be required to go to the floor of the Senate and
actually speak. Senators should be required to deal with one
subject only, namely the item being filibustered. The public will
soon hear about the topic being discussed. The liberals will then
have to defend their position. This will make successful
filibusters unlikely. It would be politically powerful, too. What
would Americans think if they saw Ted Kennedy on C-SPAN reading
the Boston phone book for hour after hour to stop the Senate from
voting on a Bush judicial nominee?
When it is clear to the American people that the liberals are
obstructionist, the pressure will be on Daschle to abandon the
filibuster strategy. Then perhaps the President's initiatives and
nominations will be fairly considered. If the extremist Democrats
who take their marching orders from groups like NARAL and PAW are
determined to filibuster President Bush's nominees, then Sen.
Frist should compel them to speak.
Americans across the country need to SWAMP the Republicans in the
Senate TODAY with messages *demanding* that the Senate leadership
DISCARD the 1980s "gentleman's agreement" to suspend
the filibuster, and force the Daschle Democrats to show the world
the kind of obstructionist deadweight they really are.
And ConservativeAlerts.com has set up just the way for you to do
that.
Now you can send "FaxGrams" to ALL 51 GOP SENATORS --
every single one of them -- telling them to support returning to
the REAL filibuster and "force the hand" of the liberal
Democrats. The cost is only $19 -- about what it would cost you
in time & long distance fees to do it yourself. Go to our
site below to send your 51 faxes NOW:
http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/
<a href="http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/">
AOL GO HERE </a>
NOTE: If all of the Republican Senators find their offices
buried under a sea of faxes by the time the judicial nominee
voting begins next week, demanding that they rescind the
agreement to suspend the filibuster, then we could finally see an
end to the "judicial armageddon" imposed by the Daschle
Democrats for the last two years. WE CAN WIN THIS ONE! Send your
Faxgrams to EVERY SINGLE GOP SENATOR *TODAY* -- and be sure to
forward this email to everyone you know that wants to help make
sure President Bush's initiatives and judicial nominees receive
the fair hearing they deserve.
And as always, you can contact your Senators for FREE at
ConservativeAlerts.com (http://www.conservativealerts.com/012703.htm).
Thank you!
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