Make My Filibuster
DAVID E. RePASS
New York Times PRESIDENT OBAMA has decided to spend his political capital now, pushing through an ambitious agenda of health care, education and energy reform. If the Democrats in the Senate want to help him accomplish his goals, they should work to eliminate one of the greatest threats facing effective governance — the phantom filibuster.
Most Americans think of the filibuster (if they think of it at all) through the lens of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” — a minority in the Senate deeply disagrees with a measure, takes to the floor and argues passionately round the clock to prevent it from passing. These filibusters are relatively rare because they take so much time and effort.
To reduce deadlock, in 1917 the Senate passed Rule 22, which made it possible for a supermajority — two-thirds of the chamber — to end a filibuster by voting for cloture. The two-thirds majority was later changed to three-fifths, or 60 of the current 100 senators.
In recent years, however, the Senate has become so averse to the filibuster that if fewer than 60 senators support a controversial measure, it usually won’t come up for discussion at all. The mere threat of a filibuster has become a filibuster, a phantom filibuster. Instead of needing a sufficient number of dedicated senators to hold the floor for many days and nights, all it takes to block movement on a bill is for 41 senators to raise their little fingers in opposition.
Historically, the filibuster was justified as a last-ditch defense of minority rights. Under this principle, an intense opposition should be able to protect itself from the tyranny of the majority. But today, the minority does not have to be intense at all. Its members have only to disagree with a measure to kill it. Essentially, the minority has veto power.
The phantom filibuster is clearly unconstitutional. The founders required a supermajority in only five situations: veto overrides and votes on treaties, constitutional amendments, convictions of impeached officials and expulsions of members of the House or Senate. The Constitution certainly does not call for a supermajority before debate on any controversial measure can begin.
And fixing the problem would not require any change in Senate rules. The phantom filibuster could be done away with overnight by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid. All he needs to do is call the minority’s bluff by bringing a challenged measure to the floor and letting the debate begin.
Some argue that this procedure would mire the Senate in one filibuster after another. But avoiding delay by not bringing measures to the floor makes no sense. For fear of not getting much done, almost nothing is done at all. And what does get done is so compromised and toothless to make it filibuster-proof that it fails to solve problems.
Better to risk a filibuster — an event that, because of the great effort involved, would actually be rare — than to save time and accomplish little or nothing.
It also happens to make a great deal of political sense for the Democrats to force the Republicans to take the Senate floor and show voters that they oppose Mr. Obama’s initiatives. If the Republicans want to publicly block a popular president who is trying to resolve major problems, let them do it. And if the Republicans feel that the basic principles they believe in are worth standing up for, let them exercise their minority rights with an actual filibuster.
It is up to Mr. Reid. He can do away with the supermajority requirement for virtually all significant measures and return majority rule to the Senate. This is not to say that the Democrats should ride roughshod over the Republicans. Republicans should be included at all stages of the legislative process. However, with the daunting prospect of having to mount a real filibuster to demonstrate their opposition, Republicans may become much more willing to compromise.
Labels: Democrats, Harry Reid, Obama, Senate
Get Ready for Senator Coleman!
Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid stated unequivocably that Norm Coleman will never ever serve [again] in the Senate". Given his past record of saying one thing only to see a substantially different outcome
("Roland Burris will not be sworn in"... "Roland Burris is one of us"... "We will stand up to this President"... "What was it you wanted again, President Bush?"... "We will restore habeas corpus"... "Vote? I never said we'd actually vote. They can filibuster, you know?") and then either do or have another thing happen, we would suggest Al Franken not pack his bags too soon.
From
Politico:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered the toughest language he has ever used in arguing that Norm Coleman’s career in the Senate is finished.
“Norm Coleman will never ever serve [again] in the Senate,” Reid told Politico’s Manu Raju. “He lost the election. He can stall things, but he'll never serve in the Senate.”
Al Franken was declared the winner today by the state’s Canvassing Board in the closely-contested Minnesota Senate race, defeating Sen. Norm Coleman by 225 votes. Coleman’s campaign has said it is contesting the result, preventing Franken from receiving an election certificate until all the legal challenges are resolved.
Reid added that he will not be trying to seat Franken in the Senate on Tuesday. When asked if Franken would be sworn in tomorrow, Reid said: "No."
In his victory statement today, Franken said he was “ready to go to Washington and get to work just as soon as possible.” But a Franken campaign spokesman said he has not yet made plans to travel to Washington.
Senate Republican leadership has threatened to filibuster any attempt to seat Franken before his victory is officially certified.Labels: Democrats, Harry Reid
McCain Hasn't Voted Since April
According to
Roll Call at the Washington Post, McCain has not shown up for tough votes, or ANY votes, since April. McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8.Harry Reid said, "I should mention how glad my fellow Democrats and I were to have our nominee for president here to vote on these important bills. Senator Obama has come to work and taken tough stands. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Senator McCain," Reid groused. "Perhaps taking tough stands on important issues is not part of Senator McCain's campaign strategy. Perhaps he's just too busy on the campaign trail to do his day job."
McCain avoided controversy (and did not have to leave the campaign trail) by failing to vote on either cuts in Medicare reimbursement for physicians or warrantless wiretapping. McCain is now the No. 1 absentee in the Senate, and No. 2 (Tim Johnson of South Dakota) has the excuse of recovering from a brain hemorrhage. How would you like to have to be an Arizona taxpayer and pay this guy for nothing? Imagine what kind of President he'd be!
Northwest Progressive Institute AdvocateLabels: Election 2008, Harry Reid, John McCain, Obama
Republicans (and Lieberman) betray America and Democracy again!
65 US Senators (
mostly Republican, but with too many Democrats) passed the
Military Commissions Act of 2006. This act, among other things, authorized the suspension of Habeas Corpus.
Now, the Democratic majority of the Senate is attemting to repeal the suspension clause.
On
Wednesday morning, September 19th, these Republican Senators sided with George W. Bush in his betrayal of the most basic and precious foudation block of Democracy...
Habeas Corpus.
Murkowski, Lisa R AK
Stevens, Ted R AK
Sessions, Jeff R AL
Shelby, Richard C. R AL
Kyl, Jon R AZ
McCain, John R AZ
Allard, Wayne R CO
Lieberman, Joseph I. I CT
Martinez, Mel R FL
Chambliss, Saxby R GA
Isakson, Johnny R GA
Grassley, Chuck R IA
Craig, Larry E. R ID
Crapo, Mike R ID
Brownback, Sam R KS
Roberts, Pat R KS
Bunning, Jim R KY
McConnell, Mitch R KY
Vitter, David R LA
Collins, Susan M. R ME
Coleman, Norm R MN
Bond, Christopher S. R MO
Cochran, Thad R MS
Lott, Trent R MS
Burr, Richard R NC
Dole, Elizabeth R NC
Gregg, Judd R NH
Domenici, Pete V. R NM
Ensign, John R NV
Voinovich, George V. R OH
Coburn, Tom R OK
Inhofe, James M. R OK
DeMint, Jim R SC
Graham, Lindsey R SC
Thune, John R SD
Alexander, Lamar R TN
Corker, Bob R TN
Cornyn, John R TX
Hutchison, Kay Bailey R TX
Bennett, Robert F. R UT
Hatch, Orrin G. R UT
Warner, John R VA
Barrasso, John R WY
Enzi, Michael B. R WY
Hold their feet to the fire!Now, Harry Reid needs to bring this back to a vote as often as the rules allow and advertise the names of those willing to betray American values and freedoms until, one by one, they roll over and do the right thing or they get their asses handed to them and are thrown out of office by REAL Americans!
Labels: Democrats, habeas corpus, Harry Reid, Military Commissions Act, Republicans
