Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Republicans Filibuster Reality!

Breakfast with frenemies. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky, Minority Leader) will join Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) in filibustering gun control proposals by the Democrats.

The Sandy Hook shooting is one of the worst tragedies in the United States. A 20-year old man White Extremist with mental issue went into an elementary school in nearby Newtown, Connecticut and killed 20 children and six adults.

The gunman ended up killing himself. Before he went on his murderous rampage, the gunman killed his mother. The mother owned a handful of firearms and had political views that match the current crop of Republican politicos.

Over 100 days since the horrible tragedy in December 2012. President Barack Obama promised that in his second term, he will get reasonable gun control passed.

The promise he made to those families of gun violence is variable. During his first term, President Barack Obama heard about the rampant gang violence in his hometown of Chicago. He witnessed the shootings in Tucson, Arizona in which six were killed and it critically injured Gabrielle Giffords, a three term Democratic congresswoman.

President Barack Obama heard of the shootings in Wisconsin in which a gunman killed seven Sikh worshipers. He heard about the shooting at Fort Hood in which a Master Sargent went on a murderous spree killing his fellow members of the U.S. Army.

The president heard about the shootings in Chardon, Ohio. The shooting in Sanford, Florida. The shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The shooting in Aurora, Colorado in which a mentally challenged individual went into a movie theater at the premiere of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises and killed 14 moviegoers.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) is a rising star among the Republican faithful. He's getting presidential buzz along with Kentucky senator Rand Paul.
Each of these events carried us to the reality that firearm laws are too relaxed. The United States leads in murders by firearms. Over 10,000 lives were lost to firearm violence post Sandy Hook.

The president is flexing his muscle. He is taking the families of the Sandy Hook victims to Washington, DC to lobby for strict background checks alongside a ban on high power firearms and continuous magazine clips.

The only thing standing in the president's way is Congress. The Republicans and some Democrats threaten to derail the measure. The Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) will join Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) in filibustering any measure that applies to firearm restriction.

California senator Dianne Feinstein, a gun crime victim warns of more problems ahead if the Senate can't pass reasonable gun control measures.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is a far right politician who continues to obstruct progress.
Democratic leader Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) fears the Democratic majority may be lost if legislation was passed in the middle of a U.S. midterm. The Republicans are licking their chops and hoping that the NRA can generate a strong outreach to get the Democrats out of Congressional power.

Reid had threaten members of the Senate to stop filibustering legislation. He's reconsidering the cloture process. Many of the president's allies single out Republican obstruction as the cause of the economic crisis and it's paying off.

The conservative senators Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Republican Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) are working on their own proposals that may get ball moving. I am guessing the Republicans will filibuster their ideas as well.

Right now, the president is frustrated with Republicans. He's getting tired of his nominees being stalled, and legislation not being passed. The House is controlled by Republicans and it's leader House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

If the U.S. Senate passes a bill, it's either killed by the House. If the U.S. House of Representatives passes a bill, it's killed by the Senate. The chances of a grand bargain on gun control, immigration reform, the budget and taxes are slim. The Republicans signal filibuster on every proposal made President Barack Obama.

The proposals by President Barack Obama also attracted ire of Independent senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders and some Democratic lawmakers.

The Republican Party is filibustering reality. The Majority Leader Harry Reid is warning senators that the overplay of filibustering will result in reform.

But to the tone deaf Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, it's their only way to winning the debate. Hopefully, this obstruction will bring a negative effect upon the American people.

The American people are so tired of Congress right now, if the election was held today, it's likely the Republicans would lose their hold on the House of Representatives. The Democrats would lose a few senators. Mostly in the South and Mountain West (i.e. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), Max Baucus (D-Montana) and the open seats by Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota) and Jay Rockafeller (D-West Virginia)).

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