Nuclear Option

Re:  Sen. Tom Harkin: Fixing the Filibuster, Sen. Tom Harkin, Democratic Senator from Iowa, Posted: February 12, 2010 10:39 AM

Among other bills, Republicans have filibustered legislation to provide low-income energy assistance; efforts to strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ensure our children are not exposed to unsafe toys; and efforts to ensure that women are guaranteed equal pay for equal work.

The problem is not only that Republicans are using the filibuster to kill good bills that would help working Americans. The larger problem is that the Republicans’ indiscriminate use of the filibuster has made it all but impossible to conduct everyday business in the Senate. On an almost daily basis, the Republican minority — just 41 Senators — stops bills from even coming to the floor for debate and amendment.

There are more ambitions for the right than stopping all Democratic nominations and legislation. If you think this one out to its logical conclusion, you can see why the Republicans are going all in with this “anti-Obama” meme, hoping it translates into a throw-out-the-bums wave of support in 2010 and 2012. Obstruction is power, and they are wielding it indiscriminately on any move by the Democrats to govern, then they step in front of media cameras with statements that try to blame Democrats for not attempting bipartisanship. Every perceived exclusion is amplified whether or not it really excluded the Republicans or not. They cry foul that Democrats have private meetings to try to figure out how to govern around the obstructionism. The future looks bright to them through obstruction.

They don’t have to govern, being the minority, so they sit back a lob bombs at the Democrats who are increasingly frustrated that they cannot govern without the Republicans help. What motivates the Republicans to refuse to govern is power. Like alcoholics, they abused the filibuster until they became addicted and now they are sloppy drunkards with the power it wields. The latest evidence of that is the stunt that Senator Shelby (R-AL) pulled recently by filibustering the approval of over 70 Obama nominees for various positions in his government for no other reason than to reach into the pork barrel for his home state. Why isn’t Shelby driven from office in shame?

President Obama, recently interviewed by Jim Lehrer on PBS’s NewsHour, suggested that the if the filibuster is “used prudently, then I don’t think it’s harmful for our democracy. It’s not being used prudently right now. And my hope would be that whether a senator is in the majority or is in the minority, that they’re starting to get a sense, after looking at this year, that this can’t be the way that government runs.” It is too late for prudence. You can’t tell a drunk to stop drinking. The right-wing is one toke over the line and loving it.

What they hope to achieve, of course, is gaining back the majority in Congress and winning the White House, the ultimate prize, and then propel the country back to the future – the Bush years, the days of glory for the right-wing. They will carry the plan of obstruction out to its end by campaigning on the fact that Democrats couldn’t pass needed legislation because of their failure at bipartisanship.

It is imperative that a Bush-like power mad figure stay out of the White House. That will only lead to more economic ruin and more wars. It is time to do something to stop the right-wing plan to paint Democrats as fools and then highjack the government again.

Senator Harkin has introduced and bill, but it will not get passed. Harkin needs 67 votes to change the Senate rules and he will not even get 60, or 50 for that matter. Something needs to be done now, something that fights fire with fire.

Currently, it takes 60 votes in the Senate to “invoke cloture” — in other words, to end debate on a legislative measure and bring it to a vote. My legislation would permit a decreasing number of Senators to invoke cloture on a given measure. On the first cloture attempt, 60 votes would be required. But, over a period of days or weeks, the number of votes required would fall to a simple majority of 51 Senators.

…It takes 67 votes to change the Senate rules — which, I acknowledge, is a tall order. But, by introducing this bill, I want to shine a spotlight on the egregious abuse of the filibuster, and how that abuse is paralyzing our democracy and making a mockery of the concept of majority rule.

This is not a tall order. It is an impossible order. So, the “nuclear option” must be utilized by the Democrats to pass the good legislation for the people, like finance reform, the Consumer Protection Agency, health reform, and many others. This is done by a simple point of order on the Senate floor to declare the filibuster for any particular bill unconstitutional on the grounds of abuse of the rule and obstructionism. After that, a simple majority vote will override the filibuster. This is not in the Senate rules, but it has been done before.

 Reconciliation alone cannot get the new programs into place because the budgetary effects can be argued ad nauseum. The Republicans are using every drastic action they muster in order to discredit the President and the Democratic majority in Congress and it is high time that the Democrats used equal drastic action. It is time to move legislation forward at all costs.

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