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Mr Reid, Tear Down This Filibuster

Posted: November 8, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , |42 Comments

One of the most frustrating things that’s happened in the last few years has been the overuse and misuse of the filibuster.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid--see the morning post–has decided that one of his top priorities will be to pass legislation to tighten rules on the use of the filibuster in the legislative chamber. The overuse of the lazy Senator’s filibuster has stymied nearly every attempt to get Democratic legislation through the Senate.

Bloomberg has an excellent article on the changes that will be proposed and what impact this could have on an Obama second term.  The bill is called “The Mr Smith” bill.  It’s be reintroduced by Sen. Frank  (D-NJ). The bill would require those who want to filibuster a nomination or a bill to appear on the floor and actually speak. This means that Republican senators can’t just scream filibuster and the go home to dinner and cocktails.  The bill was first introduced in 2011.

“The filibuster is being abused to create gridlock and prevent the Senate from doing the people’s business. Instead of being a deliberative body, the Senate has become a deadlocked body,” Lautenberg said in a press release Wednesday. “The ‘Mr. Smith Bill’ would help break the obstruction in Washington, bring transparency to lawmaking and hold senators accountable for their actions. This bill will stop senators from launching a filibuster and then skipping off to dinner, leaving our work in a stalemate.”

The bill — co-sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York — also would require that the Senate move for an immediate vote once debate ends and those conducting the filibuster give up the floor.

“Right now, senators are allowed to filibuster and force the Senate to use up a week or more on a single nomination or bill, even if there is no debate occurring on the floor,” Lautenberg’s office said. “Under the Lautenberg proposal, that time could be reduced significantly.”

Typically, a Senate rule change requires a super majority of 67 yes votes, something that will be difficult for Democrats, with their narrow 53-seat majority, to achieve. However, on the first legislative day of a new Congress, a simple majority of senators, just 51 votes, can approve new rules.

According to Lautenberg’s office, 91 cloture votes were taken in the 111th Congress — almost “four times the 24 cloture votes taken 20 years ago and almost double the 54 cloture votes required in the 109th Congress (2005-2006), when Republicans were last in the majority.”

This is the first item that would reform the procedure that became infamous in the Jimmy Stewart movie.   It has moved from being a true expression of frustration with a piece of legislation or a process to a systematic way to gridlock. It has increased the polarization that characterizes Congress these days. It isn’t used to either protect the rights of the minority or to force debate.  It’s used for pure political gain.  The Bloomberg article states that “there were more filibusters between 2009 and 2010 than there were in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s combined”.  This will give you an idea of what’s become of a symbol of democracy.  It’s became a way for Mitch McConnell to hold back progress including help for the unemployed, veterans, victims of domestic abuse, and judicial appointments.  Newly elected Senators appear to be on board for reform.

Chris Murphy, the incoming Democratic senator from Connecticut, couldn’t have been clearer: “The filibuster is in dire need of reform,” he told Talking Points Memo. “Whether or not it needs to go away, we need to reform the way the filibuster is used, so it is not used in the order of everyday policy, but is only used in exceptional circumstances.”

Angus King, the independent senator-elect from Maine, said, “My principal issue is the functioning of the Senate.” He backs a proposal advanced by the reform group No Labels that would end the filibuster on motions to debate, restricting filibusters to votes on actual legislation. The group also wants to require filibustering senators to physically hold the Senate floor and talk, rather than simply instigate a filibuster from the comfort of their offices.

And it’s not just the new guys. In an election-night interview on MSNBC, Senator Dick Durbin ofIllinois, the Democrats’ second-in-command, emphasized the importance of filibuster reform. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a committed guardian of institutional prerogatives who put the kibosh on filibuster reform in the previous Congress. But even he has given up protecting the practice. “We can’t go on like this anymore,” he told MSNBC’s Ed Schultz. “I don’t want to get rid of the filibuster, but I have to tell you, I want to change the rules and make the filibuster meaningful.”

That doesn’t go nearly far enough. The problem with the filibuster isn’t that senators don’t have to stand and talk, or that they can filibuster the motion to debate as well as the vote itself. It’s that the Senate has become, with no discussion or debate, an effective 60-vote institution. If you don’t change that, you haven’t solved the problem.

Common Cause actually sued the US Senate this year to end the filibuster.

Enter Common Cause.  It argues that a minority in the Senate has used the filibuster to hold up all manner of legislation, including (most importantly, for this suit), the DISCLOSE Act (to tighten electioneering disclosure requirements in the wake of Citizens United) and the DREAM Act (to create a path to U.S. citizenship for certain aliens).  It argues that the 60-vote requirement in Senate Rule XXII violates the default parliamentary majority-takes-all rule, the careful balance of powers in the legislative branch and between the three branches, and the power of the Senate itself to changes its own rules (because along with Rule V (which continues the Senate rules from Senate to Senate) Rule XXII seems to require that 3/5 of Senators vote to change Rule XXII).  In particular, Common Cause argues that the filibuster violates the Quorum Clause, the Presentment Clause, the power of the VP to break a Senate tie, the Advice and Consent Clause, and the equal representation of the states in the Senate–all of which in different ways assume majority rule.  It also argues that the filibuster is in tension with the eight constitutional exceptions to majority rule.

Again, the Bloomberg article says it best and btw, it’s written by Ezra Klein.

Party polarization has turned the filibuster into a noxious obstacle. Filibusters are no longer used to allow minorities to be heard. They’re used to make the majority fail. In the process, they undermine democratic accountability, because voters are left to judge the rule of a majority party based on the undesirable outcomes created by a filibustering minority.

Ideally, a bipartisan majority of senators would end the filibuster — either immediately or with a delayed trigger six years after a deal is struck — so neither party would know which is poised to benefit. But doing away with the filibuster in the next Congress has some appeal, too. Democrats control the Senate and Republicans control the House; there will be no instant power grab leading to one-party dominance.

So, go Harry.  If they’re going to cause gridlock, then at least make them stand on the Senate floor until they drop.  The American people deserve explanations instead of secretive political maneuvers.

42 Comments on “Mr Reid, Tear Down This Filibuster”

  1. pdgrey's avatar pdgrey says:
    November 8, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    Great news Dak! I left my reasons down stairs for my absence. Still catching up.

  2. ANonOMouse's avatar ANonOMouse says:
    November 8, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    I’ve watched the abuse of cloture on every major issue before the Senate since 2009. Even the repeal of DADTin 2010 was a fight to the finish that we would not have won without six repubs who crossed over and voted to send the repeal bill to a vote. 60 votes are required when the rule is evoked, I think we had 63 votes for DADT, but it took weeks to get there because it had been tied to the Defense authorization act. In the end it was uncoupled and passed as a stand alone. .

    We also tried to get the Dream Act up for a vote, but we couldn’t reach the 60 vote threshold. The republicans used cloture like a machete. Repeal will be a double edged sword, but I think the abuse of it by the GOP Senate in the 111th and the 112th Congress makes modifying the rule a necessity. .

  3. bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
    November 8, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    Great post Dak. I’m hoping that Harry Reid follows through on his promise. It’s infuriating to see the Repubs block everything, but it’s equally infuriating that the Dems won’t use their majority to change the rules. The Repubs abused the filibuster under Bush too, and the Dems didn’t fight back much at all.

  4. Fannie's avatar Fannie says:
    November 8, 2012 at 4:52 pm

    Super Dak……………..I agree, make them stand on the floor and explain it to us……….have had enough bullshit……

  5. bostonboomer's avatar bostonboomer says:
    November 8, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    OT– Florida has been called for Obama. He now has 332 Electoral votes.

  6. RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
    November 8, 2012 at 5:13 pm

    I hope they reform the filibuster for sure and I’d like to see them start pushing back on the “fiscal cliff” bit. Since it’s not a cliff at all, more like a slide.

  7. RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
    November 8, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Well, Duh!

    TPM: CBO: Expiring Bush Tax Cuts For Wealthy Are Least Economically Harmful

    A new report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reminds legislators that tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect automatically in January threaten job growth significantly in the coming year. But for the first time, CBO has analyzed (PDF) the economic consequences of specific provisions within the sequester. And it turns out the least harmful component of the coming fiscal consolidation is precisely what Democrats are demanding: the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for high earners.

  8. propertius's avatar propertius says:
    November 8, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    Great. This way, when the Simpson-Bowles recommendations make it to the floor nobody will be able to stop them.

  9. pdgrey's avatar pdgrey says:
    November 8, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    BB where did you see the Fl results?

  10. pdgrey's avatar pdgrey says:
    November 8, 2012 at 5:59 pm

    Oh great, not,
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/iran-fired-on-us-drone-in_n_2094385.html

  11. RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
    November 8, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    This is funny and passing odd but maybe we’ll lose some of our wingnuts. Sorry HT!

    Raw Story: Fox station tells Romney supporters how to ‘beat the traffic’ to Canada

    The Fox station in Oklahoma on Wednesday gave supporters of former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney some helpful tips for fleeing the country before President Barack Obama starts his second term.

    In the Fox 23 “Beat the Traffic” segment on the morning after Obama won re-election, traffic reporter Jeff Brucculeri took a look at some of the delays around Tulsa before having some fun with disgruntled voters.
    […]
    Montreal-based immigration lawyer immigration lawyer David Cohen told CNN that he had received calls from all over the United States after Romney lost on Tuesday.

    “That’s the amazing thing, when they speak on the phone. They’re adamant. They feel very, very strong about it,” Cohen said. “This government doesn’t speak for me’ is the language that we often hear.”

    • dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:
      November 8, 2012 at 6:07 pm

      They do know there’s gun control laws up there and real socialized medicine, right?

      • RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
        November 8, 2012 at 6:15 pm

        Ah but is the Canadian PM a blah person? No and I think that says a lot about the craziness.

      • NW Luna's avatar NW Luna says:
        November 8, 2012 at 11:24 pm

        They do know there’s gun control laws up there and real socialized medicine, right?

        No, they’re not very good at facts.

        I’m surprised they’re not immigrating to the Cayman Islands.

  12. pdgrey's avatar pdgrey says:
    November 8, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    OK. the “I know you are, but what am I?” Theory or reality? You decide.
    http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/08/3087995/romney-campaign-we-lost-florida.html#storylink=cpy

    Thanks Pee Wee.

  13. dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:
    November 8, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    Let’s hope Harry Means THIS.

    “We are not going to mess with Social Security” -Harry Reid http://huff.to/YS50pX

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