The former Majority leader did his party no favors when he broke years of Senate tradition requiring a 2/3rds majority vote on major legislation...and instead he decided to go "nuclear" by changing Senate rules & requiring only a simple majority vote through the budget reconciliation process to get legislation or other regulatory reforms & Judicial appointments approved.
Republicans warned him at the time that the tables would one day be turned and the Democrats would find themselves in the minority without the ability to filibuster or stall legislation or Judicial appointments they disagreed with because they could also be voted down by a simple one vote majority under Reid's revised Senate rules.
The so called "Reid rule" has now reared its ugly head for Dems, who now find themselves powerless to stop Republican repeals of the ACA through regulatory relief in the form of budget reconciliations which do not require a 2/3rds majority. They are also applying this rule to Judicial appointees for the lower Federal Courts like the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in D.C. which Reid packed with Lefties. Now Republicans can use budget reconciliation to either break up that Court, or add to its membership to offset the Liberal advantage with Conservative Justices who hear many of the appeals on regulatory issues.
So Obama's signature legislation is set to be dismantled piece by piece, as well as many more of his initiatives which were not passed into Law, but simply by Executive order and funded through the various alphabet agencies through the budget reconciliation process which now can easily be undone or simply de-funded through the same budget reconciliations, and the Dems can't stop any of it.
It's almost as if Obama has not there for the past 8 years... so he and the Dems can thank none other than one Mr. Harry Reid for the power he robbed from his own party to block Republican efforts to erase the hapless Obama legacy.
Thanks Harry, nice work!
Republicans warned him at the time that the tables would one day be turned and the Democrats would find themselves in the minority without the ability to filibuster or stall legislation or Judicial appointments they disagreed with because they could also be voted down by a simple one vote majority under Reid's revised Senate rules.
The so called "Reid rule" has now reared its ugly head for Dems, who now find themselves powerless to stop Republican repeals of the ACA through regulatory relief in the form of budget reconciliations which do not require a 2/3rds majority. They are also applying this rule to Judicial appointees for the lower Federal Courts like the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in D.C. which Reid packed with Lefties. Now Republicans can use budget reconciliation to either break up that Court, or add to its membership to offset the Liberal advantage with Conservative Justices who hear many of the appeals on regulatory issues.
So Obama's signature legislation is set to be dismantled piece by piece, as well as many more of his initiatives which were not passed into Law, but simply by Executive order and funded through the various alphabet agencies through the budget reconciliation process which now can easily be undone or simply de-funded through the same budget reconciliations, and the Dems can't stop any of it.
It's almost as if Obama has not there for the past 8 years... so he and the Dems can thank none other than one Mr. Harry Reid for the power he robbed from his own party to block Republican efforts to erase the hapless Obama legacy.
Thanks Harry, nice work!