Online Filibuster Roundup 1.25.11
Dave Johnson
Around the web…
Greg Sargent, The Plum Line, Washington Post: Dem, GOP leaders reach tentative deal to drop "Constitutional option"
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/dem_gop_leaders_reach_tentativ.html
Multiple Senate aides on both sides say that Senators Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer and Lamar Alexander have reached a tentative deal to push forward with a less ambitious filibuster reform package that doesn't rely on the so-called "Constitutional option" favored by Dem reformers. The deal is contingent on whether rank-and-file Senators in both parties support it, and leaders on both sides are presenting the idea to their caucuses this afternoon.
Sam Stein, Huffington Post: Schumer Outlines Rules Reform Deal, Democrats Divided
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/schumer-rules-reform-deal_n_813510.html
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted on Tuesday morning that Democrats and Republicans would come to an agreement on revamping some basic procedural underpinnings of the Senate, but his outline of that deal left some Democrats disappointed.
David Dayen, Firedoglake: Schumer’s Senate Rules Reform “Deal” is Unwritten
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/01/25/schumers-senate-rules-reform-deal-is-unwritten/
By now we have a sense of what Chuck Schumer will present to his caucus on a Senate rules reform deal. There will be three main pieces – banning secret holds, removing a handful of Presidential appointments from advise and consent consideration (the number I’ve seen is about 100 out of roughly 1,400), and ending the privilege for any Senator to force a full reading of a bill or amendment on the floor of the Senate. The former won’t change a thing, the second is a mere 7% reduction in the epic appointment backlog and the third is something I’ve seen tried once (by Tom Coburn on Bernie Sanders’ single-payer amendment) in recent history. So nothing, nothing, and nothing.
Dave Johnson, Seeing the Forest: Filibuster Changes Would Bring The Public Back In
http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2011/01/filibuster_chan.htm
We all want to see the Senate start working again, and be more democratic. We have all lived through the breakdown of the Senate and the damage this has done to our democracy and the public's faith in government because of the abuse of the current rules. There is a vote likely tomorrow and we want to see real changes. There is a way to fix the problem and restore public interest in government at the same time: make them talk!
Senatus: Senate Leaders Trying to Reach Agreement on Rule Reforms
http://senatus.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/senate-leaders-trying-to-reach-agreement-on-rule-reforms/
Top Democratic and “Republican senators, negotiating proposed reforms of the use of filibusters and other legislative stalling tactics, are close to an agreement on modest changes to curb the practices but not eliminate them altogether, two Senate aides said,” CNN reports.
It’s A Free Blog, WNYC 93.9: It's Time to Reform the Filibuster
http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/its-free-blog/2011/jan/24/time-reform-filibuster/
There are national debates we need to conduct, yet the Senate is held captive by a measure that, under the pretense of extending debate, actually prevents debates from ever taking place. Furthermore, there are times when a broad consensus exists across party aisles, yet secret steps allow individual Senators to scuttle this unity.
Talk Radio News Service: Reid: No Filibuster Reform Today
http://www.talkradionews.com/news/2011/1/25/reid-no-filibuster-reform-today.html
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has announced that the Senate will not move forward on a vote on reforming filibuster rules today.
Doug Mataconis, Outside the Beltway: Filibuster Reform Appears To Be Dead
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/filibuster-reform-appears-to-be-dead/
The main reason that the effort seems to have failed is, not surprisingly, that both sides of the aisle and some activists understand that the current filibuster rules are very useful when they happen to be in the minority: