Senate narrowly confirms ATF chief

[Tx4obama]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) - The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm B. Todd Jones as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, giving the politically controversial agency its first permanent director since 2006.

Senators voted 53-42 to approve Jones - the ATF's acting director since the fall of 2011 - shortly after he received the bare 60 votes needed to clear a key procedural hurdle.

All 54 members of the Democratic caucus voted to move forward with consideration of President Barack Obama's pick, along with six Republicans - New Hampshire's Kelly Ayotte, Maine's Susan Collins, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, Illinois's Mark Kirk, Arizona's John McCain, and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/31/senate-narrowly-confirms-atf-chief/

[BumRushDaShow]

1. First permanent head in 7 years

Finally! They were waiting for Heidi Hietkamp to fly in from ND to cast the final cloture vote.

[Tx4obama]

6. And apparently Murkowski had to change her 'no' vote to a 'yes'

Fragile Filibuster Deal Nearly Falls Apart Over ATF Director

A tentative deal to avert nuclear-style filibuster reform nearly fell apart Wednesday over a procedural vote to advance the nomination of Byron Todd Jones to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

-snip-

At the last minute, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) changed her ‘no’ vote to ‘yes,’ which will likely end up being the key vote. After her vote, 59 ‘yes’ votes had been cast for Jones, and senators said the vote was being held open while Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) was en route to Washington from North Dakota to cast the 60th vote.

If Jones had been filibustered, it would have violated a Senate agreement earlier this month under which Republicans would either give President Obama’s pending nominees to executive branch positions an up-or-down vote or risk Democrats changing the rules via the nuclear option. The nuclear option requires only a simple majority vote to change the rules of the Senate regarding the filibuster, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s threat to use it prompted howls of outage of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP senators.

-snip-

Murkowski changed her vote after speaking to McCain and Susan Collins (R-ME), both of whom voted yes, on the floor. The Alaskan declined to talk to reporters afterward. Democrats expected her to vote yes but privately believe she was initially talked out of it.

“Lisa’s just a friend of mine and I thought we’d have a nice little chat about what we had for dinner last night,” Collins quipped, describing as “accurate” a reporter’s characterization that she rescued Murkowski as she was being ganged up on by Republican senators. “I was concerned that she was being pummeled by both sides.”

Collins told reporters that despite her “concerns” about Jones’ nomination, “I believe the way to express those concerns is to vote no on his nominations rather than voting no on cloture. I think that there are too many filibusters in the Senate, and that we need to move forward on bills and on nominations and let the Senate work its will.”

-snip-

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/07/filibuster-deal-nearly-falls-apart-atf-director.php?ref=fpa

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. Ratify the 2nd Amendment to be "A Poorly Regulated Militia"

I'm serious. See who bites.

As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Ratified by Tea Party in 2013:

"A poorly regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

[Kingofalldems]

3. Kick this one

[Major Hogwash]

4. The GOP has lost their "law and order" meme. A Reagan label from the 80s.

Amazing that the Rethuglicans are no longer bragging about them being the "law and order" party.

Ever since Reagan was President, that is what they claimed.
But, now, the Tea Party coalition within the GOP wants none of that.
Amazing.

[onehandle]

5. Great. Start real regulation of guns.

Now.

[Nunliebekinder]

7. We should get rid of the ATF.

Roll its duties over to the FBI.

[Kip Russell]

8. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency.