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Roy Blunt (r) would prefer that you didn’t vote…ever

22 Tuesday Jun 2021

Posted by Michael Bersin in Roy Blunt, social media, US Senate

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chutzpah, cloture, filibuster, Hypocrisy, missouri, Roy Blunt, S. 1, social media, Twitter, Voting rights

S.1 — 117th Congress (2021-2022)
Introduced in Senate (03/17/2021)
For the People Act of 2021

This bill addresses voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government.

Specifically, the bill expands voter registration (e.g., automatic and same-day registration) and voting access (e.g., vote-by-mail and early voting). It also limits removing voters from voter rolls.

The bill requires states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting.

Additionally, the bill sets forth provisions related to election security, including sharing intelligence information with state election officials, supporting states in securing their election systems, developing a national strategy to protect U.S. democratic institutions, establishing in the legislative branch the National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions, and other provisions to improve the cybersecurity of election systems.

Further, the bill addresses campaign finance, including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, requiring additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establishing an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices.

The bill addresses ethics in all three branches of government, including by requiring a code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, prohibiting Members of the House from serving on the board of a for-profit entity, and establishing additional conflict-of-interest and ethics provisions for federal employees and the White House.

The bill requires the President, the Vice President, and certain candidates for those offices to disclose 10 years of tax returns.

Roy Blunt (r) [2016 file photo].

This evening:

Senator Roy Blunt @RoyBlunt
S.1 was written by one party acting alone.

S.1 was steered through Congress by one party acting alone.

The danger of such extreme changes being made by such tiny, partisan congressional majorities should be clear to everyone.
4:27 PM · Jun 22, 2021

There is much hilarity in the responses:

I wonder if you will remember this tweet when MO Republicans gerrymander US Congressional districts by dividing up Kansas City and leaving only one Democratic district in St. Louis.

Yes, the will of the majority in a democracy would just be absolutely tragic, huh?

WRONG!!! The real danger is the GQP enacting voter suppression bills all across the nation where the states are held by the GQP!! If this is truly a nation of government for and by the people, then voting is a right for ALL the people, not just who the GQP wants to vote!!!

Excuuuuusse me! When I cheat, it’s unacceptable for anyone to hold me accountable unless _I_ lead the charge in making sure I follow the rules!

-Roy Blunt

Things like stacking the Supreme Court? Actions have consequences

It is hard not to see this as disingenuous when you have never once spoken out against Republican partisan voting rights led legislation that were down by one party acting alone

S.1 was written by one party alone because the other party refused to even talk about such a thing. Don’t put the blame for that on the Democrats, but on the Republicans, where it belongs.

The fact that you hate it. Proves it’s good for the country.

What? Yeah man they’re trying to protect the elections from YOU, why do you think you’re owed a say in that protection?

Republicans represent a minority of Americans. Majority rules.

The changes are not extreme. They are trying to protect America from turning into a failed state like Missouri.

Because the other party won’t give up trying to prevent people from voting. That’s your party, senator.

Stop tweeting this shit

Well, gee Roy. Maybe if you voted to bring it to debate you could have fixed some of that. /s

We all know who’s playing partisan games, Roy.

Choosing not to participate was the partisan part, Roy. That’s on you.

Why don’t you want all Americans to be able to vote?
Our Vote is our Voice.

I think your referring to the Republican agenda

Thank God you are not running for re-election.

Probably should have voted to debate it then

You refused to even debate it.

That would be too much work.

Are you still there?

Now do Supreme Court Justices!

Debate your points on the floor then. What are you afraid of?

I don’t think Republicans have a lot of credibility on this particular topic. Your dark-of-night, hidden session partisan bills are legendary.

All of the GOP voter suppression laws in the many states were written by the GOP acting alone. The GOP supported insurrection acting alone. The GOP refused to convict a rouge President – acting alone. The GOP packed the courts – acting alone.

no Republican wanted to participate in the process of ensuring that all voters’ rights are protected, and you think this is a negative of the legislation and not your party?

They’re funny that way.

I didn’t realize you were comatose for the Trump tax package and the failed Obamacare repeal.

That’s funny. Tiny majority. I guess you only like progress if it’s YOUR progress. Would be cool if you weren’t a sore loser. I mean if you had the heart to accept the will of the people and the will of a majority vote. What’s the danger?

C’mon Roy. You’re full of it and you know it.

Yeah, like Republican efforts to suppress voters isn’t partisan. If you can’t win on the issues, you gotta cheat, right? That’s the Republican way.

Tiny, partisan congressional minorities? You mean like leader McConnell refusing to give a sitting Presidents SC nominee a fair hearing? Or ramming thru another nominee 3 weeks prior to an election? Wow. The audacity of your statement is stunning.

Chutzpah.

Baloney. Republicans have had the opportunity to contribute through it all. And they have steadfastly refused to vote on anything even after negotiations. You know that. Why lie, Roy?

It’s in his nature.

Like the 2017 Tax cuts? Did you object then?

The GOP is acting alone in suppressing voters’ rights across the country. Did you object then?

That only the Democrats care about voters’ rights is an indictment on you, not them.

The GOP REFUSES to work on making access to voting easier for Americans.

Doesn’t that say more about the Republican Party than anything else?

You’re intentionally mischaracterizing the situation. Stop it.

You don’t get to complain after voting against the Jan. 6 commission. Take a seat Roy.

Somebody might take you seriously if they forgot that the only reason the party exists is to stop the Democrats. As if the GOP has acted in good faith bipartisan negotiations this century…

If your position is so strong, why won’t you engage in debate and prove it to the country?

The fact that you won’t even engage in debate implies that your case is not that strong, and perhaps the danger is not as large as you state.

S1 is a bill to make sure everyone who is legally able to vote is able to cast that vote. Why are you against making voting accessible to as many people as possible. Why do make a Democracy worse? Why are you content with diminishing the role of minorities in voting?

Either you believe in democracy or you don’t. Looks like we know what side you fall on. Missourians deserve better.

You’re too damned afraid to even debate it on the senate floor. Don’t spew your lies on Twitter. It’s bipartisan when YOU take part. You voted NO. Because you don’t want to be bipartisan. We got your number Roy.

AGAIN, Lying. The Democrats have been trying to reach across the aisle. Your party has blocked any attempt at bipartisanship. You are actively trying to slice up voter rolls and gerrymander minority rule. Don’t tell me this is harmful to democracy when you want pick your voters.

Roy Blunt (r) doesn’t care.

U.S. Senate vote on the motion to proceed – Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Tags

Claire McCaskill, cloture, missouri, Roy Blunt, U.S. Senate, Unemployment Insurance

Today the U.S. Senate voted, 60-37 (invoking cloture), on the motion to proceed for S. 1845 – the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act. This would extend the unemployment benefits for the 1.3 million people who lost them in December.

There were no surprises in the vote from Missouri’s senators:

Question: On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to S. 1845 )

Vote Number: 2

Vote Date: January 7, 2014, 10:44 AM

Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Agreed to

Measure Number: S. 1845 (Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act )

Measure Title: A bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits, and for other purposes.

Vote Counts: YEAs 60

NAYs 37

Not Voting 3

Blunt (R-MO), Nay

McCaskill (D-MO), Yea

[emphasis added]

No explanations for the difference of opinion yet.

From the White House Council of Economic Advisers (December 2013):

New Report: The Economic Benefits of Extending Unemployment Insurance

Posted by Jason Furman, Betsey Stevenson on December 05, 2013 at 09:00 AM EST

The United States economy continues to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and while substantial progress has been made, more work remains to boost economic growth and speed job creation. Despite ten consecutive quarters of GDP growth and 7.8 million private sector jobs added since early 2010, the unemployment rate is unacceptably high at 7.3 percent, and far too many families are still struggling to regain the foothold they had prior to the crisis.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program authorized by Congress in 2008 has provided crucial support to the economy and to millions of Americans who lost jobs through no fault of their own. Under current law, EUC will end on December 28, 2013[1].

This report argues that allowing EUC to expire would be harmful to millions of workers and their families, counterproductive to the economic recovery, and unprecedented in the context of previous extensions to earlier unemployment insurance programs.

[….]

The effects of allowing EUC benefits to expire would be felt nationwide:

Job-seekers who will lose access to EUC benefits can be found in nearly every state.

[….]

State [/]  Unemployed losing access to benefits

Missouri 84,500

[….]

[emphasis added]

As if the House will do anything.

Previously: U.S. Senate confirmation vote on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (January 6, 2014)

The republican majority preserves DADT 40 -57

10 Friday Dec 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Tags

cloture, DADT, McCaskill, missouri

The republican majority in the United States Senate defeated the repeal of DADT in a vote of 40-57:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress – 2nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed (Upon Reconsideration, Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to S. 3454 )

Vote Number: 270 Vote Date: December 9, 2010, 03:33 PM

Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected

Measure Number: S. 3454 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011)

Measure Title: An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.

Vote Counts: YEAs 57

NAYs 40

Not Voting 3

YEAs —57

McCaskill (D-MO)

Claire McCaskill’s vote was not a surprise to most:

Claire McCaskill (D): “Kitchen Table Talk” in Kansas City, part 3 (December 19, 2008)

….Question: Hi, I just have a quick question, my name is Sarah…about the military. Two years ago when you were on Hardball with Chris –  

Claire McCaskill: I know what you’re going to say! Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!

Question: Yeah. I want to know, two years later, especially with the support of Barack Obama in reevaluating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and recent document signed by 104 Generals and Admirals, if you have rethought your position on reevaluating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Claire McCaskill: I think you will see action on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. And, I think that – I think we’re to the point that people realize that that is a probably irrelevant consideration. And as I said to a general the other day, “I wish you guys were as worried about the problems you have in the military in terms of-” I’ve been very involved in looking at sexual assault issues that women have had in the military. And there has been an incredible problem of women being sexually assaulted in the military and us not dealing with it. Not with the right mental health provisions, not with the right criminal consequences provisions, and I think there is now, you know as time goes on, I think you are seeing adjustments, even within the military that I think, it has a very good chance of passing this time, if we, if he changes the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and I’ll be happy to support it. And my daughter, the one that talked me into voting, publicly endorsing Barack Obama, will be so glad that I’ve said that publicly. [audience laughter][applause] She bugs me constantly about it! Constantly! I will just be sitting at my desk, in the Senate, and I’ll get a text message, in all capital letters, “WHAT ABOUT DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL?” Exclamation, exclamation, exclamation. So Maddie will be glad you asked the question. Yes…

That was two years ago.

The arc of homophobia is long and it bends toward frustration.

A Change worth making

25 Saturday Apr 2009

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Tags

cloture, filibuster, reconciliation

William Greider, writing at The Nation last December, urged the Senate to change the cloture threshold. There’s nothing sacred about sixty votes. It’s been changed more than once during our history, the last being in 1975, when Democrats ran out of patience with Southern Democrats holding up civil rights legislation and reduced the threshold from 67 to 60.

If ever the Senate had reasonable cause to lower the threshold, it’s now. The 2007-2008 Senate set a record: 138 cloture motions to limit debate and head off filibusters. That’s double the number from ten years ago and Greider asks: “Who really believes McConnell will voluntarily give up his starring role as Senator No?”

So far, I don’t see any indication Democratic Senators are considering Greider’s solution, but something almost as good is in the offing. Obama has warned the GOP that Democrats are prepared to use a procedural move called reconciliation that’s possible on budgetary measures, allowing the Senate to pass a bill with only 51.

Upset with getting a GOP goose egg from the GOP, twice, on his stimulus bill, Obama warned Republican senators that they would not have veto power over health care legislation. Either pass something by mid-October or face reconciliation. And the same message went out to Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who has been holding out against reform in an effort to protect the student lending institutions in his home state.

Going around obstructionists could get habit forming. Who knows? Democrats might get to like it so much that they’d be willing to consider Greider’s (not very) outrageous suggestion. Ask anybody in the labor movement if they’d like to see it happen. Not only would card check pass, but Arlen Specter would be robbed of a chance to look heroic to the nutcases who might vote against him in a primary.

Would that Reid had the cojones to lead this charge.

Filibuster Refresher Course, Part 1

15 Thursday Nov 2007

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Tags

cloture, filibuster, Iraq War, Missouri Senate, pq, US Senate

In the Senate (both in the US Senate and here in Missouri), the senators debate a bill until there’s an agreement that the debate’s over. Only then a final vote can be taken. The vote to end debate (called a cloture vote) requires a supermajority, while a final vote generally requires only a simple majority to pass. A filibuster is an attempt to prevent a bill from passing by keeping it from ever coming to a vote.

Jimmy Stewart’s character in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” made the filibuster famous by singlehandedly stalling the entire Senate. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you view the bills being passed) the movie is misleading; a single Senator can’t hold up a bill that way. S/he needs 39 accomplices in the US Senate to go along – otherwise, the rest of the Senate would vote for cloture, bringing the debate to an end.

Nowadays, a full-fledged filibuster hardly ever happens, with all the images it conjures up of talking to all hours of the night reading from the Federalist Papers, recipe books, the Bible, and letters from home. The filibustering side threatens, and if they have the votes, the bill is usually withdrawn without so much as a cloture vote.

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