President Obama Calls for a Free and Open Internet

Re:President Obama Calls for a Free and Open Internet by noobermin on Monday November 10, 2014 @11:31AM (#8584473)

Ironically, the fact they changed the rules speaks against your claim that Obama could easily instate who he wanted. In fact, from the article you posted, it gives a graph that shows that more filibusters have been filed in the previous three senates than have been in recent history.

This [1] shows a breakdown that includes filibusters of nominations.

To further refute your point, the appointment relevant to the discussion, Wheeler, assumed office after the rule change[2].

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/11/21/us/politics/se...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler

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Re:President Obama Calls for a Free and Open Internet by Amezarak on Monday November 10, 2014 @06:39PM (#8587374)

It's not just filibusters, even. Senators can also issue "secret" holds. At one point, Jeff Sessions (R-AL) put a hold on every single nominee simultaneously until some pork was added to a defense spending bill.

These holds have been common practice and they are very rarely publicized.

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