Why I must continue to rant about Senator Shelby

Senator Shelby's newest threat? A blanket hold. A blanket hold is a new concept to me. I did not know that it existed; quite frankly, I never wanted to have to know why it existed. But because of Senator Shelby, I needed to find out, so here is a quick explanation: (from Erza Klein at the Washington Post)

The first thing to understand is that there's no such procedural move as a "hold." It's not something senators have in their special senatorial utility belts. Instead, a "hold" is shorthand for a promise to obstruct all further consideration of a particular piece of Senate business.

The best explanation of how this works came from David Waldman, and I encourage you to read it in full. But here's the short version: The Senate generally uses unanimous consent agreements to set the rules for a bill or a nomination. A hold, in its simplest form, is a promise to object to unanimous consent.

Okay, then what?

Then, everything is stopped. Everything. Not just the nominations that no one cares about. Everything stops. Yikes.

This makes no sense. Did the Republican party think just because Massachusetts voted in Scott Brown, that that has given them some type of super-human power? That is simply nonsense.

Republicans are in short supply in Massachusetts. The Independent vote swept in Scott Brown, not the Republican vote. So, this election did not mean to give a grand nod to the Republican party. It was also not meant to send all of the Democrats into a cave, cowering in fear, either. As Charlie Brown would say, "Good grief".

All I know is that Richard Shelby is why I hate Washington. And not because he is a Republican. Just because he is a jerk. This is an example of why I think that Congress, both the House and Senate, acts like a dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving. You know the drill; the craziest relative is always given what he wants first, to avoid ruining the day for everyone else.

And that is what Senator Shelby is acting like. A crazy person.

It's a $40,045,000,000 ransom demand to the United States government.

It is beyond comprehension to me that we allow this to happen. I am simply stunned.


Also, see Gail Collin's opinion in the NYTimes today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/opinion/06collins.html?emc=eta1