Thread: It was a straight-up power grab.

It was a straight-up power grab.

Yesterday, despite an avalanche of phone calls, emails, and faxes from concerned citizens like you, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cut a deal to water down the filibuster.

I'd like to thank you for all you did over the last couple of weeks to fight back. The truth is, if you hadn't acted, the changes to the rules would have been significantly worse.

Let me tell you more about what happened, and what it means for the issues you and I care about.

Cowed by Harry Reid's threat to illegally change the rules with only 51 votes, Mitch McConnell cut a deal that weakened the filibuster, gutted minority rights, and at the same time increased his own power.

And all but a handful of Republicans followed their leader into this evisceration of their own rights.

You can see how your Senators voted by clicking here and here (please thank your Senators if they voted against both parts of the rule changes).

As expected, the deal weakens the filibuster, which you and I have used time and again to defeat Big Labor power grabs.

Not only that, the so-called "leaders" gave themselves even more power at the expense of individual Senators -- and concerned citizens like you who use the filibuster to protect freedom and rely on amendments to force elected officials to vote up or down on critical issues.

Clearly, the biggest beneficiary of the new rules is Harry Reid (and his allies and backers like Big Labor).

Reid has more control over the clock, more ways to cut deals, and easier paths to ram through legislation.

But the new rules also give Minority Leader Mitch McConnell substantially more power, especially over the ability of members of his own party to offer amendments to bills.

No Republican Senator will be able to introduce and get roll call votes on amendments without McConnell's permission.

Instead, he's likely to use his new amendment power to serve his own interests, or cut more deals by "buying" swing votes.

This is deeply troubling.

Historically, what has made the U.S. Senate such a special institution is that a single Senator can make an enormous difference, especially when backed up by people like you.

But these rule changes centralize power in the hands of Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell.

Now, we have to stay on higher alert because of Harry Reid's increased ability to ram through dangerous legislation.

And we must keep up the pressure on Mitch McConnell, who may now flex his power to deny crucial votes or cut even more devastating deals with Harry Reid.

Thanks again for everything you did in this battle. I'm going to need you to stay vigilant more than ever.

Sincerely,


U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote


another email on the subject


Dear kathyet,

Over the last few weeks, I’ve warned you that chief Senate Republican Mitch McConnell was preparing to cave into Harry Reid’s scheme to gut the Senate filibuster, clearing the way for the passage of President Obama’s anti-gun agenda.

Such a total compromise from McConnell would gag pro-gun leaders like Senator Rand Paul.

I’m truly grateful for the activism of NAGR members just like you, who flooded Reid and McConnell’s and individual Senator's offices with hundreds of thousands of faxes, emails, petitions and phone calls.

While McConnell and Reid DID cut a back-room deal at the last minute yesterday, which compromised away many basic procedural motions of the filibuster process, all was not lost.

Many anti-gun activists are fuming that Reid did not exercise the so-called “nuclear option” and abolish a Senator’s right to filibuster all together.

YOUR calls, faxes and e-mails made it virtually impossible for Reid and McConnell to completely abolish the filibuster.

The McConnell Capitulation forfeited several of the procedural motions that have been used to great effect by conservatives like Senator Rand Paul to delay legislation that the Majority Leader is trying to jam through, allowing bad legislation to pass more quickly in the future.

This change is specifically designed to make it harder for groups like the National Association for Gun Rights to mobilize our grassroots members -- YOU -- to put pressure on their Senators about anti-gun legislation.

However, your activism in the form of calls, faxes, and e-mails did save parts of the filibuster.

The agreement grants the minority party two amendments in the amendment tree should Reid and the majority seeks amendments.

While some opportunities for delay remain, the new rules significantly reduce the amount of time required to pass a bill, and allow the senate to move straight to debate and passage on a piece of legislation.

Instead of over 60 hours worth of delays, the new rules will see debate limited to just four hours.

Frankly, the new rules are bad, but not as bad as they could have been.

Some of the Senate’s rules have been change permanently, some only for the two years of the 113th Congress, and still more are merely an informal, handshake compromise between Reid and McConnell.

There are a lot of moving parts, and it remains to be seen how these new rules will be put into practice.

McConnell’s filibuster surrender merely marks the end of this skirmish. The longer term battle over the Senate filibuster rules is not over.

And perhaps even worse, Harry Reid's threatening Mitch McConnell and the Republicans has, once again, given him a piece of what he wanted at no cost.

Political weakness is never a winning strategy.

Without your phone calls, e-mails and faxes, I’m convinced we could not have stopped Reid from completely abolishing the filibuster, and drastically endangering your gun rights in the process.

Thank you for your help!



For Freedom,

Dudley Brown
Executive Vice President P.S. Gun owners across the country are facing a tough battle to protect our gun rights from President Obama’s anti-gun onslaught.

My staff has pulled out my exchange with John Kerry for you to watch in the brief video below.


John Kerry Hearing

Unfortunately, that’s the problem in Washington these days.

Too many politicians and bureaucrats flat-out ignore the Constitution, or they think they have the authority to obey it at will.

There's no accountability.

Hillary Clinton acted the same way during her hearing over the Benghazi terrorist attacks that left four Americans dead.

And to add insult to injury, whenever concerned Americans like you hold their feet to the fire and expect them to fulfill the duties their offices demand - they're outraged.

Rest assured, I'm going to hold their feet to the fire.

Whether they like it or not, whenever the Big Government crowd decides to cherry-pick the Constitution, I'm going to call them out on it.

That's because I'm dead serious about restoring constitutional government in America.

And I promise you I'm not backing down.

In Liberty,

Senator Rand Paul

P.S. Take a moment to watch the brief video of my exchange with John Kerry during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee Confirmation Hearing yesterday.