Cruz and Paul Have An Answer To Senate ‘Byrd Rule’: Nuke It

[corbe]

Cruz and Paul Have An Answer To Senate ‘Byrd Rule’: Nuke It

By Steve Berman  |  May 17, 2017, 02:35pm  |  @stevengberman

Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul want to go nuclear to steamroll the “Byrd Rule” which prevents the Senate from considering non-budget-related items during filibuster-proof reconciliation votes.

Politico reports:

The firebrands want to overturn long-standing precedent for what can be done under reconciliation, the fast-track budget process the GOP is using to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. They argue Republicans are allowing stale Senate norms to tie their hands and are forfeiting a chance to completely abolish the law.

Cruz had previously voiced his opinion that Obamacare needs to be repealed all at once versus in multiple phases. And of course, Cruz’s legal interpretation, which Paul and Sen. Mike Lee also support, is technically correct.

The argument hinges on who gets to make the determination of what is considered permissible in the Senate. By longstanding tradition, parliamentary issues are decided by the Senate parliamentarian, a staff position currently held by Elizabeth MacDonough. But the Constitution gives the Senate complete control of its own activities and deliberations. Therefore, it technically falls to whoever it sitting in the presiding president pro-tempore chair, or to Vice President Mike Pence, who is constitutionally the President of the Senate.

Would overriding, or technically speaking, bypassing, the parliamentarian set off a nuclear arms race between Republicans and Democrats, which may well never end? It could, and that concerns many senators on both sides of the aisle.

<..snip..>

http://theresurgent.com/cruz-and-paul-have-an-answer-to-senate-byrd-rule-nuke-it/

[DiogenesLamp]

Way past time we used the "spoils"  system. 

[Doug Loss]

Would overriding, or technically speaking, bypassing, the parliamentarian set off a nuclear arms race between Republicans and Democrats, which may well never end? It could, and that concerns many senators on both sides of the aisle.

And in what way is that "nuclear arms race" not already ongoing?  Who actually believes the Democrats wouldn't do this instantly if they were in the majority?  Hands?

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

FFS, just ditch the nuclear option and be done with it. Enough of this pageantry.

[FreeReign]

And in what way is that "nuclear arms race" not already ongoing?  Who actually believes the Democrats wouldn't do this instantly if they were in the majority?  Hands?

Yup. And I would add that Big government is currently what he have in place. It's the status quo. Any change toward limited government will not happen under any 60 vote parliamentary rule.