John Oliver On The Truth About Filling A Supreme Court Vacancy

John Oliver, host of HBO's "Last Week Tonight," kills it on this segment addressing the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the sudden brouhaha by Senate Republicans claiming SCOTUS justices simply aren't nominated in the fourth year of a president's term:

GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz established an arbitrary 80-year time frame during which he said no president ever got a hearing for a nominee in the last year of his term, but Oliver pointed out that Cruz was wrong.

Dead wrong. Five times wrong.

Five nominees came before the Senate during that period, with three making it onto the highest court in the land.

Oliver then turned his eye on the Judicial Crisis Network — a conservative advocacy group that stumps for hardline right-wing judicial appointments — for their ad claiming “We the people” should wait until a new president is sworn in and let that president choose.

Oliver pointed out that “We have a perfectly good president” right now who was re-elected three years ago and is entirely capable of making that decision.

Of course, the bottom line is President Obama was elected to a second FOUR year term, not three year term. And it is his responsibility to nominate a replacement for SCOTUS, and the Senate's job is to "advise and consent." Not block anything from happening.

It's a bad move by Republicans as it just cements the perception that they are the party of "no," and nothing else.

Poll: 53% Of Americans Don't Want Senate To Block Obama SCOTUS Nominee

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that he and his fellow Senate Republicans feel Americans should have a voice in who selects the next Supreme Court justice.

Well, it looks like "the people" want President Obama to name a nominee, and they don't want the Senate to block that nomination.

A new poll from Rasmussen Reports, a typically right-leaning polling outfit, shows that voters would rather Obama to fill the vacancy rather than waiting until after the next presidential election.

The poll found that 51 percent of likely voters believe that Obama nominate Scalia’s successor, and 53 percent believe the Senate should not “reject or refuse to consider” the nomination.

Only 35 percent favor the kind of obstruction advocated by McConnell.

In the last couple of days, at least three Republican Senators - Sen. Ron Johnson, Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Chuck Grassley - have signaled they might be open to hearings or a vote on an Obama nominee.

More at Think Progress.

U.S. Senate Votes 98-1 To Give Congress A Say Over Emerging Nuclear Iran Deal

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill intended to give Congress a say in the emerging nuclear deal between Iran, the U.S. and its five negotiating partners.

The final vote was 98 to 1, with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as the lone no-show and junior Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) casting the only dissenting vote.

More at Huffington Post.

Climate Change And The U.S. Senate

Fascinating (and frightening) animation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

Decades ago, the majority of the Arctic's winter ice pack was made up of thick, perennial ice. Today, very old ice is extremely rare.

This animation tracks the relative amount of ice of different ages from 1987 through early November 2014.

Video produced by the Climate.gov team, based on data provided by Mark Tschudi.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 98-1 to acknowledge that climate change is "real." However, an amendment saying that climate change is due to human activity was voted down 59-40.

Go watch the video below and think on whether all this ice is melting "just because."

(h/t JMG)

Keystone XL Pipeline Fails To Pass In US Senate

Vote to approve long-contested Keystone XL pipeline fails in the Senate. Supporters fell just shy of 60 votes needed. http://t.co/ehBIzvtsOC

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) November 18, 2014

GOP US Senator: Some Of Fox News “Totally Not Fair And Totally Not Balanced”

As part of his farewell tour to the state, GOP Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn called some shows on Fox News “totally not fair and totally not balanced,” referencing the network's “fair and balanced” slogan.

“The truth is somewhere in between the three,” Corbun said of MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News.

“There are certain shows on Fox I can’t watch,” Coburn said. “Because they’re totally not fair and totally not balanced. I want all the information if which I can make the best decision.”

The senator is retiring this year in part due to a recurrence of prostate cancer.

Coburn was responding to a question about how he would “fix” media to focus on less superficial things if he was in charge of it. He said he also reads the New York Times and Wall Street Journal saying “the real problem is we’ve lost the professionalism of journalism.”

(via Buzzfeed)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would welcome House immigration bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would welcome the $659 million immigration bill currently circulating in the US House.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is trying to round up enough votes for a pared-down border bill that spends far below the president’s request for $3.7 billion and includes policy changes to speed the deportation of illegal minors from Central America.

Reid said the policy changes would give him an opportunity to attach the comprehensive immigration reform bill that the Senate passed last year with the support of 14 Republicans.

“If they pass that, maybe it’s an opening for us to have a conference on our comprehensive immigration reform. If they’re finally sending us something on immigration, maybe we can do that,” Reid told reporters after a lunch meeting with his caucus.

“We’ve been looking for something to do a conference on. Maybe we can do it with that,” Reid said.

The current House bill would send National Guard troops to the southern border plus add funding for immigration judges to speed the processing of unaccompanied minors found crossing US borders illegally.

While the Senate passed legislation last year, Speaker Boehner has blocked any attempt to further immigration reform this year. To do so could might open the door to what could be considered a "win" by President Obama and the Democrats.

 And of course, it's more important to play politics than to get the people's work done, don't you know?

New Hampshire: Scott Brown announces run for NH Senate seat

Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is announced today he's running for the US Senate again. Only this time, in New Hampshire.

The term "carpetbagger" comes from the 1860s after the Civil War left the South with many deaths in the political world. Northerners relocated to the South for political opportunity. (A carpetbag was a type of luggage). Sometimes, when a politician fails in one race, they move to another state to try their luck there. It's often frowned upon because the pol may or may not understand the local political climate.

It will be interesting to see if the "carpetbagger" term sticks to Brown in this race. The Real Clear Politics poll average shows Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic incumbent, at a nine point lead.

ENDA passes in US Senate 64-32

Via HRC press release: Today, the U.S. Senate voted 64 to 32 to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) for the first time in the legislation’s two-decade history. All Senate Democrats joined 10 Senate Republicans to approve the bill.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin issued the following statement:

“Today, a strong bipartisan majority of the United States Senate made history by standing up for a fundamental American truth. Each and every American worker should be judged based on the work they do, and never based on who they are. This broad Senate coalition has sent a vital message that civil rights legislation should never be tied up by partisan political games.

“We firmly believe that if the House of Representative were freed by Speaker John Boehner to vote its conscience, this bill could pass immediately. It’s unconscionable that any one person would stand in the way of this crucial piece of the civil rights puzzle.”

Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada to support Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada

Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada announces his support for ENDA, becoming the 60th vote for passage of the legislation in the US Senate.

From Raw Story:

On Monday, Democrats found their 60th vote when Heller announced that he would also be backing the bill.

“After listening to Nevadans’ concerns about this issue from a variety of viewpoints and after numerous conversations with my colleagues, I feel that supporting this legislation is the right thing to do,” Heller said in a statement. “Under the leadership of this Governor, as well as the legislature over the past several years, Nevada has established a solid foundation of anti-discrimination laws.”

“This legislation raises the federal standards to match what we have come to expect in Nevada, which is that discrimination must not be tolerated under any circumstance,” he added.

A few other GOP Senators may join in now. Word is Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio (who has an openly gay son) may vote for the bill as well later today.

Senators Joe Manchin and Mark Pryor give their support to ENDA

It would appear the last two Democratic senators who had not made a commitment to ENDA have finally come on board with their support.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the last Democratic holdout, says he'll vote 'yes' on ENDA, according to a tweet from NYT reporter Jeremy Peters.

Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) said he'd vote for it last night.

After Manchin's 'yes' vote leaves supporters just one vote shy of having the 60 votes needed to avoid a Republican-led filibuster.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman (who has a gay son) has indicated he's leaning 'yes' but has not formally announced support.

Stay tuned.

Oh, and yeah, the bill has no chance in the GOP-led House. But still, it's taken 20 years to get even a vote on the legislation in the Senate. So it's a big deal.

(via Towleroad)

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida becomes 56th sponsor of ENDA

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) has agreed to co-sponsor ENDA, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised yesterday will get a hearing before Thanksgiving. That leaves the bill just three votes short of the 60 needed to pass.

From Huffington Post:

There are now just two Democratic senators -- Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) -- who are not co-sponsors of the legislation, which would bar workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It is already illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, nationality, religion, age or disability.

Only two Republicans -- Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) -- have so far signed on as co-sponsors, although Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted for the bill in committee in July. With Nelson's support, there are now 56 ENDA supporters currently in the Senate, and when Sen.-elect Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is sworn in on Friday, that number will rise to 57.

Among the GOP Senators targeted for support are John McCain, whose wife Cindy has signed a petition urging him to vote for the bill.

Beyond all this good news in the US Senate, ENDA has no chance of passing in the Republican controlled House.

NJ: Mayor Cory Booker leads Senate race by double digits with one week to election

Newark Mayor Cory Booker

The New Jersey special election for U.S. Senate is just over a week away, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker still holds a double-digit lead over Republican Steve Lonegan.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely New Jersey Voters shows Booker with 53% of the vote to Lonegan’s 41%.

GOP Senators Ted Cruz and Bob Corker in the most "I'm just curious" debate between two Republicans in a long time

From Dave Weigel over at Slate, we take a peek into the time-wasting, mind-numbing kind of "action" that goes on at the US Senate when time is ticking to keep our government up and running.

The "debate" on the continuing resolution to fund the government, like most Senate debates, has consisted of very little in the way of arguments on the floor. It's more of a time-marking exercise, one that both sides have agreed to truncate in order to force a cloture vote today at 12:30 p.m.

Sen. Ted Cruz has attempted to use this time to prove that there's grassroots support for the only-slightly-complicated plot of filibustering the CR so that Democrats can't add back Obamacare funding via an amendment.

Yesterday afternoon Sen. Bob Corker — a Tennessee Republican who's been outwardly dismissive of this strategy — started quizzing Cruz about how this was supposed to work, and why he voted for the cloture vote to start debate, and ... look, just watch.

Apparently, there was a struggle for Democrats to not laugh out loud at how goofy this entire exchange was between two Republicans as time continued to tick by...

New Jersey: Mayor Cory Booker leads GOP rival by 16 points in Senate race

According to a Monmouth University poll released this morning, Mayor Cory Booker has a 16 point lead against GOP rival Steve Lonegan, the former New Jersey chapter head of the far-right Americans For Prosperity.

Booker currently holds a 54% to 38% advantage over Lonegan among New Jerseyans likely to vote in the October 16 special election. Booker has solid support among Democratic voters (92%), while Lonegan musters support from 79% of his partisan base. Independent voters split, 43% for Booker to 41% for Lonegan. ooker gets more positive ratings from Republicans (27%) than Lonegan gets from Democrats (5%). They receive about the same “net” score from independents: +22 for Booker (49% favorable to 27% unfavorable) and +23 for Lonegan (37% favorable to 14% unfavorable).

Lonegan has all the expected positions: anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, anti-Obamacare, anti-gun control.

(via JMG)

New Jersey: Mayor Cory Booker easily wins Democratic primary for US Senate

With 98% of precincts reporting, Mayor Cory Booker easily won the Democratic primary in New Jersey in the special election to fill the US Senate seat of recently deceased Frank Lautenberg.

With 98 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Booker had won nearly 60 percent of the vote, far more than his nearest challenger, Representative Frank Pallone Jr., who had about 20 percent of the vote. Representative Rush D. Holt trailed with about 17 percent and the State Assembly speaker, Sheila Y. Oliver, had less than 5 percent.

Mr. Booker is a heavy favorite to win the October general election in an overwhelmingly Democratic state that has not elected a Republican senator in four decades. If he does he will become the country’s only elected black senator.

In the GOP primary, Steven Lonegan coasted to his own victory with 79% over his one challenger.

Of the over 300,000 votes cast, Booker received more than twice that of Lonegan.

(via NY Times)

US Senate committee sets date for ENDA vote

A US Senate committee has set a date of July 10 for a vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, according to the Advocate:

The date set for the vote by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is exactly two weeks after the court ruled against both Proposition 8 and a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act.

ENDA, which would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, is expected to easily obtain committee approval, as all 12 Democrats on the Senate panel are cosponsors of the legislation, and Republican senator Mark Kirk of Illinois is as well.

Immigration reform passes in US Senate by vote of 68-32

On a vote of 68 to 32, the US Senate approved an immigration reform bill that would put 11 million undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship. From NPR:

The bill also includes measures that would punish employers who take advantage of immigrant workers, as well as providing billions in spending to employ fences and high-tech tools to help secure the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

The legislation, , is widely seen as the product of the efforts of the "Gang of 8," a group that includes Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.


The bill has been seen as a main priority for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who insisted the chamber will act on it before the July 4 holiday. It is also a centerpiece of the Obama administration's legislative agenda.

"It's landmark legislation that will secure our borders and help 11 million people get right with the law," Reid said Thursday.

The future looks more rough for the bill in the GOP-controlled House. Several House Republicans are believed to be working on their own versions of the legislation.

Sen. John McCain blasts fellow Republicans on immigration bill

The 2008 GOP Presidential candidate is not happy with his fellow Republicans for not supporting immigration reform.

Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid becomes 50th co-sponsor of ENDA

Thank You to Senator Harry Reid for becoming the 50th Senate co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT folks in the work place.

Let's see this pass in the US Senate THIS YEAR!

(image via Memeographs)