Filibuster Update by Senator Democratic Leader Reid

Just got off the phone from a DNC briefing by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. The briefing was...well, brief. He left the Senate floor, amid debates in progress, for this conference, and sounded disheartened.

He gave no numbers or prognostications as to the outcome of the President's 5 stalled judicial nominees, except to point out that Bush now has a 96% approval rate for his nominees. That's the one of the highest approval rates in Senate history. Senate Republicans failed to even allow a vote on 69 of President Clinton judicial nominees.

Reid cited that, since our country's founding, 20% of all judicial nominations failed to be confirmed, and "fell by the wayside." That's a normal part of the democratic process as designed by our forefathers. George Bush, in his bid for total governmental control, is the first US President to seek to overturn this safeguard of democracy. It's a sad time for our country, Reid commented.

Reid reported that moderate Republican Senators have all been contacted by ultra-conservative lobbyists, and told that if they "vote with Democrats," that they will no longer receive campaign contributions. And they will follow through on that threat, Reid admitted.

When asked what citizens can do, Senator Reid urged all to contact Republican senators from the following states, and ask them to "vote their conscience and for the good for the country": Arizona, Rhode Island, Virginia, Maine, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Alaska and New Hampshire.

Senator Reid expects a vote next Tuesday or Wednesday on Senate Majority Leader Frist's drive to deploy the "nuclear option" to permanently kill the judicial filibuster, the historical Senate voice of minority rights and an essential feature of our sacred democracy to keep power in check.

If the extremist right Senate Republicans are successful in this drive, US democracy will be forever transformed, and moneyed lobbyists will have won their drive for control and direction of our country's future.