=It IS a life and death issue, and there IS a way of shutting this kind of =legislation down, even without control of the executive =branch--filibustering. 44 Democrats did vote against it, and if they were =solid, that's enough to sustain a filibuster even without the conservative =defectors. Same with the Ashcroft and Norton nominations. They don't HAVE =to allow these things to happen--but they do.
WRONG! Amazing that folks make accusations without even reading the news attached to the posting. One of the pieces of legislation passed by the Gingrich Congress was the new rule allowing the repeal of regulations on a staight majority vote of both houses of Congress- no filibuster allowed. This is the first time the provision has been used, since Clinton was there to veto any such vote before, but it was a nice anti-regulatory rule that will soon be used all the more commonly.
Just as the Dems in the Senate won't be able to filibuster the tax cut when presented as part of the budget under the conciliation rules of the Budget Act.
I know folks want to find every way possible to blame the Dems for what is coming down because Bush was elected President, but the reality is that Nader did help contribute to rolling back the most important OSHA protections for workers in a generation, just as his campaign helped remove the veto for the bankruptcy bill about to be passed, and just as it contributed to the cutoff of family planning funds globally.
Dems in the Senate voted overwhelmingly to uphold the ergonomic standards against the will of big bussiness. 46 Dem votes against and not one GOP vote to sustain the rules.
As the consequences of having GOP control of all parts of government becomes clear, it is amazing that folks can keep up the prattle about no differences between the parties. For those workers suffering repetitive stress injuries without relief, the differences are all too clear.
-- Nathan Newman