The Phantom Supermajority
GOP tool and Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Pribus, appeared on Meet the Press, Sunday Dec. 4, for an interview with David Gregory. Preibus hardly came up for air once he got started.
The barrage of toxic rhetoric he spewed left Gregory almost mute.
Here's a sampling of Reince Priebus's remarks from the Meet the Press interview transcript.
People's opinions of this president couldn't be any lower.
I mean, the reality is everything this president has touched, everything he's touched, has not turned out to go very well. Everything he touched has gotten worse. Now, the debt commission, he didn't follow it; supercommittee, he's out campaigning, he was nowhere to be found. Health care costs, he said that Obamacare would make everything better in regard to health care, it would lower the cost of health care. Guess what? Costs are higher, debt is higher, the deficits are higher.
This president has been a disaster to this country, David. .
The worst part was the out and out lie that President Obama had a supermajority in the Congress.
Here’s Reince. Feel free to advance the vid to 7:45.
http://youtu.be/...?
Maybe he doesn’t know what a supermajority is? This excerpt from a description of our legislative process given by the White House defines it:
When the bill comes up for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are usually limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited — Senators may speak to issues other than the bill under consideration during their speeches, and any amendment can be introduced. Senators can use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure by which a Senator delays a vote on a bill — and by extension its passage — by refusing to stand down. A supermajority of 60 Senators can break a filibuster by invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote. Once debate is over, the votes of a simple majority passes the bill.
Or maybe he doesn’t know how to count. Here’s how the US Senate was divided when the 111th Session of Congress began in January 2009.
Democrats: 56
Republicans: 41
Independents: 2
Here’s what the rollcall looked like, if anyone has any doubts.
Here are the Democrats
1 Amy Klobuchar
2 Barbara Boxer
3 Barbara Mikulski
4 Ben Cardin
5 Ben Nelson
6 Bill Nelson
7 Blanche Lincoln
8 Bob Casey
9 Bob Menendez
10 Byron Dorgan
11 Carl Levin
12 Christopher Dodd
13 Chuck Schumer
14 Claire McCaskill
15 Daniel Akaka
16 Daniel Inouye
17 Debbie Stabenow
18 Dianne Feinstein
19 Edward M. Kennedy
20 Evan Bayh
21 Frank Lautenberg
22 Harry Reid
23 Herb Kohl
24 Kirsten Gillibrand
25 Jack Reed
26 Jay Rockefeller
27 Jeanne Shaheen
28 Jeff Bingaman
29 Jeff Merkley
30 Jim Webb
31 Ted Kaufman
32 John Kerry
33 Jon Tester
34 Kay Hagan
35 Ken Salazar
36 Kent Conrad
37 Maria Cantwell
38 Mark Begich
39 Mark Pryor
40 Mark Udall
41 Mark Warner
42 Mary Landrieu
43 Max Baucus
44 Patrick Leahy
45 Patty Murray
46 Richard Durbin
47 Carte Goodwin
48 Roland Burris
49 Ron Wyden
50 Russ Feingold
51 Sheldon Whitehouse
52 Sherrod Brown
53 Tim Johnson
54 Tom Carper
55 Tom Harkin
56 Tom Udall
And, for the heck of it, here are the Republicans.
1 Arlen Spector
2 Bob Bennett
3 Bob Corker
4 Chuck Grassley
5 David Vitter
6 George Voinovich
7 Jeff Sessions
8 Jim Bunning
9 Jim DeMint
10 Jim Inhofe
11 Jim Risch
12 John Barrasso
13 John Cornyn
14 John Ensign
15 John McCain
16 John Thune
17 Johnny Isakson
18 Jon Kyl
19 Judd Gregg
20 Kay Bailey Hutchison
21 Kit Bond
22 Lamar Alexander
23 Lindsey Graham
24 Lisa Murkowski
25 Mel Martinez
26 Michael Enzi
27 Mike Crapo
28 Mike Johanns
29 Mitch McConnell
30 Olympia Snowe
31 Orrin Hatch
32 Pat Roberts
33 Richard Burr
34 Richard Lugar
35 Richard Shelby
36 Roger Wicker
37 Sam Brownback
38 Saxby Chambliss
39 Susan Collins
40 Thad Cochran
41 Tom Coburn
With the two Independents added to the Democrats and Republicans, there were still only 99 Senators. One was missing. Al Franken was prevented from taking his seat due to a recount in Minnesota where he won with a slim margin.
On April 29, Sen. Arlen Spector changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. That changed the tally.
Democrats: 57
Republicans: 40
Independents: 2
On July 7, Al Franken was finally sworn in when his opponent Norm Coleman conceded the election to him. Once again the tally was changed.
Democrats: 58
Republicans: 40
Independents: 2
That’s still not a supermajority and it was the highwater mark for the number of seats held by the Democrats for the rest of the session. On paper, it might look like there could have been a supermajority by tossing in the 2 Independents with the Democrats. Bernie Sanders, a reliable progressive, would bring the Democrats tantalizingly close to the supermajority number. Joe Lieberman, was the other Independent. Once a Democratic Party nominee for Vice President, Lieberman had given a primetime speech at the Republican Party nominating convention some months earlier. (There’s a place in hell reserved for him and I hope he enjoys his accommodations there when he arrives.)
http://youtu.be/...
At the same time, Sen. Edward Kennedy was gravely ill and he passed away on Aug. 25. His seat remained empty for a month. Then it was filled temporarily by Paul Kirk, until Scott Brown won the special election in Massachusetts on January 19, 2010. When Brown was sworn in to the Senate on February 4, 2010, the possibility of a Democratic supermajority was gone.
People like Reince Priebus can lie all they want and lie they will. Not just about the supermajority but also about the accomplishments of the 111th Session and President Barack Obama. Here’s what Reince said:
Nancy Pelosi controlled the Congress for two out of the three years that President Obama's been president. Harry Reid controlled the Senate for two of those three years. Guess what? We are living under the Barack Obama Democratic policies today.
Amen. Let that be the case. This is just a partial list of the bills that were passed in 2009 – 2010. History will show that the 111th Congress was a landmark session that deserves to be remembered for what it accomplished.
• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 - Pub.L. 111-2
• Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act - Pub.L. 111-3
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - Pub.L. 111-5
• Credit Card Act of 2009 - Pub.L. 111-24
• Supplemental Appropriations - Car Allowance Rebate System (Cash for Clunkers) - Pub.L. 111-32
• Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act - Pub.L. 111-84
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Pub.L. 111-148
• Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act - Pub.L. 111-203
• Tax Relief Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 - Pub.L. 111-312
• Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 - Pub.L. 111-321