Online Filibuster Round Up 1.27.11

[Dave Johnson]

End times:

Around the web…

 

Greg Sargent, The Plum Line, Washington Post: Did Reid and McConnell just doom future filibuster reform?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/did_reid_and_mcconnell_just_do.html

 

Udall's argument: If Democrats hadn't threatened to pass filibuster reforms via a simple majority, the issue would have been a non-starter from the very beginning. If the reforms being championed by Udall, Tom Harkin and Jeff Merkley could only pass with 67 votes, everyone could have safely ignored them and the issue would have received no attention.

 

Ezra Klein, Washington Post:Reid and McConnell agree: There will be no reform of the filibuster

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/01/reid_and_mcconnell_agree_there.html

 

There is some good stuff in the agreement Reid and McConnell struck. The Senate will vote on eliminating secret holds, ending the timewaster of having the clerk read legislation out on the Senate floor, and cutting the number of nominees who require Senate confirmation by a third (which would free about 400 positions from the process). Reid and McConnell have also agreed, in principle, to avoid filibustering the motion to debate and to grant the other side more opportunities to amend legislation.

Chris Bowers, Daily Kos: Once more unto the breach on filibuster reform

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/27/939187/-Once-more-unto-the-breach-on-filibuster-reform

 

Sometime today, Thursday, January 27th, the Senate will finally hold a vote on the package of filibuster reforms we have been pushing. This package includes a real filibuster and a greatly accelerated confirmation process for judicial and executive branch nominations.

 

MSNBC: Congress: Once again, focus on the Senate

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/27/5934285-congress-once-again-focus-on-the-senate-

 

More: Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and his leadership colleagues have worked behind the scenes with their GOP counterparts to overhaul a set of arcane procedural rules, with the aim of curtailing filibusters and allowing a more free-flowing debate... The Senate is not expected to go as far as the freshmen would like, but senior Senate aides said Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are close to a gentleman's agreement aimed at curbing disruptive practices. Senators plan to try the new approach with modest initiatives. One starting point under discussion is a slate of pending non-controversial judicial nominations that stalled last year on the Senate floor, aides said."

 

Michael O’Brien, Blog Briefing Room, The Hill: Reid, McConnell swear off changes to filibuster

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/140713-reid-mcconnell-swear-off-changes-to-filibuster

 

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced a series of rules changes for the Senate on which he struck an agreement with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), among them an agreement to not seek changes to the filibuster or other rules.

 

David Waldman, Congress Matters: Senate rules reform update

http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2011/1/27/1508/01645

 

The deal is what it is. In terms of real reform, it's next to nothing. But, still, next to. One-third of all executive nominations is one-third of 1400+. Eliminating the "secret" part of secret holds is... nice, though we were all hoping that they'd do something about the "hold" part. Being able to waive the reading of amendments -- including substitute amendments, which is the real problem -- so long as they've been publicly available for 72 hours is just good sense.

 

Alex Altman, Swampland: Afternoon Reads

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/01/27/afternoon-reads-5/

 

--The Senate strikes a deal on rules reform. As we previewed earlier this week, the push to overhaul the filibuster system, led by Democrats Harkin, Merkley and Udall, petered out. In the end, reformers were left with a pact that ends secret holds, trims the number of presidential appointees that require confirmation votes and bars the practice of stalling by amendment-soliloquy, along with other dilatory tactics. Party leaders also reached a handshake agreement not to change the rules via the "constitutional option," as Ezra Klein explains.

 

Byron York, The Examiner: In Senate, a quiet death for filibuster 'reform'

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/congress/2011/01/senate-quiet-death-filibuster-reform

 

That doesn't mean there might not be some changes in other areas in coming weeks and months. "We'll have potential to make some changes on secret holds -- a tweak to secret holds, not eliminate them," the source says.  "And we're probably going to do something on nominations, reducing the number of positions that require Senate confirmation.  But nothing on cloture motions and filibusters."

 

NMPolitics: ‘Constitutional option’ fails; Udall to keep fighting

http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2011/01/%E2%80%98constitutional-option%E2%80%99-fails-udall-to-keep-fighting/

 

Udall has been talking for months about changing the Senate’s rules on filibusters and other issues using a provision that allows rule changes on the opening day of the session with a simple majority vote. After the opening day, changing the rules requires a two-thirds vote.

 

Carl Pope, Sierra Club: Escaping the Black Hole in the Heart of DC

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/2011/01/escaping-the-black-hole-in-the-heart-of-dc.html

 

Now that we have begun the battle to Fix the Senate, we need to make sure that those Democrats who undercut the reformers — like North Dakota's Kent Conrad, Arkansas's Mark Pryor, and above all, Max Baucus of Montanta — hear from their constituents. And we need to put the Republicans on notice: if they abuse the Rules, the Rules can still be changed.

 

Jamelle Bouie, Tapped, The American Prospect: Filibuster Reform Retreats for Another Day.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=01&year=2011&base_name=filibuster_reform_retreats_for

 

These are good things, and on issues like executive branch nominations and judicial confirmations, they will almost certainly make a difference. Still, it's disappointing that Democrats weren't able to see their real interest in curtailing the filibuster. Yes, when they are next in the minority, they will be able to block GOP legislation. But when they regain the majority, they'll have a hard time actually doing anything. On the other hand, given the Republican Party's willingness to change procedure when necessary, I wouldn't be surprised if the next Republican Senate majority chooses to just abolish the filibuster in full.