Ok, I love you, bu-bye!
I have always supported the filibuster in the Senate. It is a rule that has been useful for centuries, so a minority of Senators can have their voices heard. It forces a supermajority vote to overcome it.
The filibuster used to be a talkfest, where a Senator would hold the floor, speaking until he was overridden by cloture. Of course most remember those filibusters as associated with the Civil Rights battle. Funny, how in the Senate of the 1960s, the greatest Civil Libertarian of the age did not vote for cloture on the Civil Rights act, due to its bullying of individuals and businesses. It was this battle that has resulted in florists, photographers, and bakers being forced to violate their personal beliefs, or lose their businesses. And of course, who doesn't remember Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith goes to Washington?
It was a noble rule, used only to fight legislation that shouldn't be going through anyway. But that is not what it is now. If it still was, I would not be writing this. Now, the minority leader says that they are going to filibuster something, and then business stops, until cloture is invoked, or until the issue is dropped. No speeches, no marathon sessions. It has now become standard practice to require a 60 vote majority to get anything done. That has to stop.
Now, the Senate can't even pass a budget, it can't do any kind of legislation that is reform oriented. Even O-care reform has to be crafted in such a way as to be dealt with as a reconciliation. It is tragic that the concept of paying federal employees, funding Medicare, or Social Security, is held up for a 60 vote threshold.
I am loathed to say it, but it has to go. Senator McConnell, get rid of it! If a simple majority is all that is EVER required, then the minority will have to engage, and maybe something can get done. Right now, all they have to do is sit on their hands. I say all this, knowing that it is quite possible that the GOP gets voted out in 2018. Either that, or force the minority to actually filibuster, and when they don't to call for a vote.
A budget hasn't been passed since 2010. 2010. That is right, the federal government has been operating under a series of CRs and temporary resolutions since. Why? Because the Senate is broken,
The filibuster used to be a talkfest, where a Senator would hold the floor, speaking until he was overridden by cloture. Of course most remember those filibusters as associated with the Civil Rights battle. Funny, how in the Senate of the 1960s, the greatest Civil Libertarian of the age did not vote for cloture on the Civil Rights act, due to its bullying of individuals and businesses. It was this battle that has resulted in florists, photographers, and bakers being forced to violate their personal beliefs, or lose their businesses. And of course, who doesn't remember Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith goes to Washington?
It was a noble rule, used only to fight legislation that shouldn't be going through anyway. But that is not what it is now. If it still was, I would not be writing this. Now, the minority leader says that they are going to filibuster something, and then business stops, until cloture is invoked, or until the issue is dropped. No speeches, no marathon sessions. It has now become standard practice to require a 60 vote majority to get anything done. That has to stop.
Now, the Senate can't even pass a budget, it can't do any kind of legislation that is reform oriented. Even O-care reform has to be crafted in such a way as to be dealt with as a reconciliation. It is tragic that the concept of paying federal employees, funding Medicare, or Social Security, is held up for a 60 vote threshold.
I am loathed to say it, but it has to go. Senator McConnell, get rid of it! If a simple majority is all that is EVER required, then the minority will have to engage, and maybe something can get done. Right now, all they have to do is sit on their hands. I say all this, knowing that it is quite possible that the GOP gets voted out in 2018. Either that, or force the minority to actually filibuster, and when they don't to call for a vote.
A budget hasn't been passed since 2010. 2010. That is right, the federal government has been operating under a series of CRs and temporary resolutions since. Why? Because the Senate is broken,
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