How can the three proposals all have been defeated if they all had majority support? Because in today's Senate, everything needs 60 votes, the number it takes to end a filibuster.
Once a senator threatens to filibuster, action on that item stalls unless 60 senators vote to move forward.
Neither party escapes blames for filibuster abuse, but most of it lies with the GOP. And, particularly, with Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who as leader of the Republican caucus, has transformed the Senate into an instrument of obstruction.
In his years as Republican Senate leader during Barack Obama's presidency, McConnell used the filibuster to slow down everything and anything the Democratic president wanted.
With Republicans now controlling all three branches of government, Democrats, viewing turnabout as fair play, are using the filibuster more.
So what would it take to fix the Senate? Among the possible rule reforms: expanding the list of matters that aren't subject to a filibuster and limiting to one the number of times a filibuster can be used on a specific piece of legislation.
With such an understanding, the ubiquity of the filibuster might fade.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2018/03/24/making-senate-work-again/ecJztSKutOl6Ee2sD462vM/story.html
Once a senator threatens to filibuster, action on that item stalls unless 60 senators vote to move forward.
Neither party escapes blames for filibuster abuse, but most of it lies with the GOP. And, particularly, with Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who as leader of the Republican caucus, has transformed the Senate into an instrument of obstruction.
In his years as Republican Senate leader during Barack Obama's presidency, McConnell used the filibuster to slow down everything and anything the Democratic president wanted.
With Republicans now controlling all three branches of government, Democrats, viewing turnabout as fair play, are using the filibuster more.
So what would it take to fix the Senate? Among the possible rule reforms: expanding the list of matters that aren't subject to a filibuster and limiting to one the number of times a filibuster can be used on a specific piece of legislation.
With such an understanding, the ubiquity of the filibuster might fade.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2018/03/24/making-senate-work-again/ecJztSKutOl6Ee2sD462vM/story.html
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