I found an interesting article on Slate.com pertaining to the Filibuster Vote. The piece highlights the proposal by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa where he breaks the number of votes for cloture into daily steps downward. Its quite thought provoking.
Sure, we all expect the Filibuster to endure the attempts co eliminate it, but what will it look like when all is said and done? Under Harkin's plan, the minority's ability to block legislation would diminish with successive votes.
The site states: Senate leaders would still need 60 votes initially to impose "cloture"—i.e., to shut off debate. But if Senate leaders lost that vote, they could wait two days and call another vote that would require only 57 votes. If they lost that vote they could wait another two days and call yet another vote that would require only 54 votes, and if they lost that vote they could wait another two days and call a final vote that would require only 51 votes. The Harkin plan defers to the minority's desire for extended deliberation but upholds the principle that ultimately the Senate should conduct most of its business through majority rule.
http://gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm
You could also tell Kirsten through twitter: @SenGillibrand
2 comments:
This is amusing. It was not too many years ago when the Republicans had the majority in the Senate. When people then made mention of trying to do something to change the filibusters rules because of the Democrats using the filibuster to block Republican initiatives, the Democrats defended the filibuster, even using the phrase "minority rights" (because they were in the minority in the Senate) to defend their use of the filibuster.
I'm looking forward to Congress working together in a bi-partisan way this year. Changing the Senate rules may help a little. Everyone knows this could serve the Republican majority someday in the future, but it's still the right thing to do.
Thank you Senator Harkin.
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