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• Anonymous

  It is right to oppose the confirmation.  This agency is set up so that it is not accountable to ANYONE. That is a dangerous thing to be doing.  So I am grateful to all who voted ‘NO.’  They are not against the man so much as they are against how the agency is set up.

• Anonymous

  You use gridlock as a pejorative term. Not everyone would agree.

• Anonymous

  Is “President George W. Bush” intended as a pejorative term too?

• Anonymous

  Or against protecting people.
   
  http://www.scambusters.org/top10scams2.html – Top ten swcams of 2010 – 2011

  Texas billionaires Sam and Charlie Wyly probably sure like the way you think, pard!

• Anonymous

  what other way could he be described, Pseudo cowboy?

• Anonymous

  Let’s understand what a filibuster is.  It is a vote against ending debate.  A vote against ending debate should be reserved for times when senators don’t fully understand an issue and further discussion is needed or when a large minority truly believes further discussion could change the outcome of a vote.
   
  In modern times this courtesy afforded the minority is routinely abused by Republicans who just don’t want any vote to happen at all.  This filibuster stunt would be better known as a government shutdown, because that’s what it is.  It prevents democracy from operating. 

  It should be abolished.  A rule allowing the minority to extend debate for a fixed amount of time should be adopted in its place.
   
  Our senators should be ashamed whenever they vote this way.

• Anonymous

  The point of having the agency ‘Independent’ was so that neither party could influence it, so that it could truly protect the consumer and not be politicized or bought by money.
  As it is, by the time that it was passed, it was watered down by financial pressures.

• Anonymous

  This particular incident of filibustering was wrong, when they blocked the vote on that confirmation. The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was done through the passing of a law. That law went through the entire process. What’s happening now is a minority party in one chamber of one branch of government is acting to block that legislation from functioning. That’s completely wrong and not how our government is supposed to work. 

• Anonymous

  Not really though. The law that created it has already been passed. If they didn’t want this agency to function, they should have gotten enough votes to filibuster then. 

• Anonymous

  Isn’t it ironic how the majority party whines
  when the filibuster is used? But when they become the
  minority they have no qualms about using it as they
  see fit. Kind of like the same way the majority doesn’t
  and won’t bring opposing party bills or amendmants
  to the floor to be voted on unless they are sure they
  have enough votes to defeat it, then they may allow the vote.

• Anonymous

  I think what people are complaining about is the record number of times the filibuster has been used.  Since Obama has taken office, the Republicans have set records every year on the number of filibuster.  Remember when the Republicans threatened a “nuclear option” because the Democrats filibustered 10 appointments?  The Republicans have recently set a record with 100 filibusters in one year.  Not even the same ballpark.

• Anonymous

  Toss everyone of these bums out onto the street, from both sides of the aisle. They have driven this country straight into the ditch and continue to create havoc and ruin. They have gotten us the short end of the stick in every single trade agreement that have gotten near. There are 196 countries in the world and we do not have a trade surplus with a single one, not one. With “friends” like these dim wits, does the American worker or small businesses really need any enemies?

• Anonymous

  Why is the use of the “filibuster” only an issue when the Republicans use it? Where was your editorial when it has been used in the past?

• Anonymous

  Howdy Doodie, or Alfred E. Newman also work.

• Anonymous

  Neither of our girls complained about the agency’s structure at that time because it had just been created, and what is wrong with gridlock? Sure is better than these finger-pointers coming up with more restrictive measures.

• Liberal Soup N Crackers

  There is absolutely nothing wrong with a filibuster. The Senate was designed, purposefully, to function as something of a valve to slow down populist legislation coming out of the House and to require a greater plurality than the simple majority of the House.

• Anonymous

  This filibuster problem is really nullification under a different name.  The GOP has not accepted the democratically elected President of the United States.  This is what happened in the south before the civil war.  They are willing to lie and derail governance to steal the power that is rightfully the President’s.

  If you read up on the fall of great civilizations, a recurring theme appears in the final death throws:  government stops functioning.  This is a self-fulfilling cycle.  While our congress has sat on their hands in the name of fiscal restraint (which was nowhere to be found when the GOP had power), the world has passed us by.  Our politics keeps us stuck where we are without significant movement.  The controls over congress and the economy that served us well for 235 years have been sufficiently weakened to result in a government that is no longer capable of serving the complex needs of our modern society.

  If the filibuster abuse is not reigned in, we are soon to lose any ability to command a meaningful place in the global economy.  This stalemated system has made America weak.  This may be good news for China, India and Brazil, but it may have cost us our last hope of righting the course before we lose relevance.  Military might alone will not win the day.  The empire is crumbling in front of us. 

• Anonymous

  Your characterization of the CFPA being unaccountable is not true.  The law states that they are subject to seven different oversight mechanisms.  They are subject to oversight directly from Congress.  They have budget oversight from the GAO.  Their budget is capped as well.

  You are simply repeating anti-government propaganda.  You claims have no basis in fact.  Why do you want to distort what this agency does?  Are you a banker that makes money off of deceptive loan terms?  Are you a car dealer who offers lease contracts that deceive customers?  Do you peddle credit cards to poor people?

  Your argument demonstrates the amount of effort that is being spent on misinformation instead of solving problems.  If you buy the crap you are peddling, fine, get ripped off by millionaire bankers looking for a better retirement in the Caribbean on your back.  Stop telling people lies about the government and one of the only things that has been done to make financial companies accountable to reasonable standards of conduct.

• Anonymous

  It wasn’t abused in the pass. Yes the filibuster was used by both parties in the pass, but not at this rate it is being used now. No were near. The democrats got threaten with the “nuclear Option” for filibustering 10 appointments. Now the republicans have filibustered over 100 times. 

• Anonymous

  Actually the Supreme court is what protects the Minority from the Majority. The Filibuster was not designed by the founding fathers. 

• Liberal Soup N Crackers

  You are simply wrong. The Senate was designed to be a slow, deliberate body as representatives of the individual States

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_627Z6GPPA2WEIIW3ZBXSZKFMW4 Mike

  This is a terrible situation. We need leadership and cooperation to get the nation going in a positive direction. Our Senators choose to obstruct rather than govern. Little wounder that the Occupy  movement has formed. Hopefully a non violent revolution will restore rule by the people.

• Anonymous

  The filibuster was created by mistake. Look it up. The filibuster was never in the orginal design of the founding fathers. It wasn’t created to protect minority rights, Arron Bur simple told them to get rid of the “previous question motion” which they simple did. Hence the filibuster was born, by accident.

• Liberal Soup N Crackers

  I am not referring to the specific tool of filibuster when I refer to the manner and purpose of the Senate. I am stating the filibuster serves that purpose very well. The fact that you had to go all the way back to 1789 emphasizes my point.

• Anonymous

  It does, but when you are just simply filibustering everything then it is not serving its point. The point is that its to protect the minory from  harm, not to simply be used when you don’t like something, which is the way it is being used.

• Anonymous

  Bravo to The Rexican !

• Anonymous

  So what? Should someone not use a means to stop
  something they believe is detrimental to this nation?
  Isn’t it there to use to prevent the majority party….
  no matter which one…from cramming something
  through because they “feel” it is correct? I could care
  less how many times it is used, it is there to be used if
  the minority party…no matter who it is…feels that is
  in the best interest of the country to prevent a person or
  law from being put into place. Maybe since Obama has been
  in office, we should be thankful it has been used so many times.

• Liberal Soup N Crackers

  Everything is not filibustered. Those in the minority consider the current issue to be harmful to the interests of the country as a whole.

• Anonymous

  The current issue is the confirmation, not the agency itself. The creation of the agency already went through that laborious process of becoming a law. The Republicans in one chamber are using the filibuster to prevent an existing law from functioning. You really think that goes along with the spirit of the Senate?

  The bill already went through all the hurdles required of bill in becoming a law. What’s happening now is wrong. It’s plain and simple.

• Liberal Soup N Crackers

  The creation of the agency went through the process before the historic 2010 elections. There is nothing wrong with a filibuster. If the Senate has the 60 votes to end it, let them vote.

• Liberal Soup N Crackers

  Don’t you think the 2010 election mandates had something to do with this?

• Liberal Soup N Crackers

  Dodd-Frank was passed along Party lines. There was never minority support for the bill. I advocate throwing every obstruction possible in it’s path.

• Anonymous

  The thing about Congress and Government agencies and the monstrosities they create is this.  What you say about the chain of command and over sight is true… the other is also true.   Compare it to LURC in Maine set up by the legislature under the executive but at times makes rules up on its own on the spot without legislative oversight.
  In the case of the Fin Reg bill many of the committees that will actually write the rules have not been organized yet. Some of the committees will not even take shape and write the rules until 2020. Ten years from when it first passed. I do not know if that is what Snowe and others are concerned with but I am. Handing power of every financial transaction over to a bunch of bureaucrats that might not even be out of high school yet scares me a little.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

  The GOP has abused the filibuster. They have used it a record amount of times by far.

• Anonymous

  Homer, they absolutely should.  However, it seems like either the Republicans are completely out of touch with reality if they feel that over 100 pieces of legislation last year would destroy the country, or they need to put on their big boy pants and climb out from cowering beneath the blankets in their bed.  They appear to be afraid of their own shadow.

• Anonymous

  When the dems lose control of the senate and use
  the filibuster, I hope you are the first to scream
  about the abuse of it.

• Anonymous

  I hate the filibuster, but this is not true. They only “protect” the minority by ensuring majority-passed laws are consistent with the Constitution. They have no authority beyond that (and the Constitution does not universally “protect” the minority).

• Anonymous

  Well, when Repubs win the senate (they will over the next few election cycles) they’ve set the stage for the Dems to filibuster EVERYTHING. This “rule” only leads to gridlock, regardless of the party in charge.

• Anonymous

  The Laura Bushmaster?

  http://www.bushmasterequipment.com/home.htm

• Anonymous

  Will do, if it’s abused, and the big IF of them losing control.