Al Franken: If Last-Year Presidents Can't Nominate, Maybe Last-Year Senators Shouldn't Vote on Bills or Head Committees

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"The Constitution does not set a time limit on the President's ability to fulfill this duty.  Nor, by my reading, does the Constitution set a date after which the President is no longer able to fulfill his duties as Commander in Chief, or to exercise his authority to, say,  grant pardons or make treaties.  It merely states that the President shall hold office for a term of four years.  And by my count, there are in the neighborhood of 11 months left."

"If we were to truly subscribe to the Majority Leader's logic and extend it to the legislative branch, it would yield an absurd result.  Senators would become ineffective in the last year of their term.  The 28 senators who are now in the midst of their reelection campaigns and the 6 senators who are stepping down should be precluded from casting votes in committee or on the Senate floor."

"Ten committee chairs and 19 subcommittee chairs should pass the gavel to a colleague who is not currently running for reelection or preparing for retirement.  Bill introduction, and indeed the co-sponsorship of bills, should be limited to those senators who are not yet serving in the sixth year of their terms.  If the Majority Leader sincerely believes that the only way to ensure that the voice of the American people is heard is to lop off the last year of an elected official's term, I trust he will make these changes."

eye'm thynkin':  Senator Al Franken exposes the absurdity of the GOP and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to deny President Obama his right to name a replacement for the late Justice Scalia to the the Supreme Court.  

Read more at Bipartisan Report (video)