Sen. Jeff Merkley battles to limit rampant 'abuse of the filibuster'--7 Dems on fence.
I saw Merkeley interviewed on MSNBC and he has 48 Dem. Senators on-board to pass this with 51 needed to pass it.
The 7 Democrats on the fence are :
Baucus, Boxer, Feinstein, Leahy, Levin, Pryor, and Jack Reed.
They say they are for the "social contract" or "gentlemen's agreement" to eliminate the huge # of filibusters which was agreed to 2 years ago.... but Merkeley says the number of filibusters has only increased since then!
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Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley battles to limit rampant 'abuse of the filibuster'
By Charles Pope, The Oregonian
on December 25, 2012 at 12:00 PM, updated December 25, 2012 at 9:59 PM
Sen. Jeff Merkley, with Sen. Ron Wyden on the right.
WASHINGTON – Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and what critics call "a cohort of short-sighted Senate sophomores," are in an intensifying battle to change the Senate's hidebound ways and its most powerful tool – the filibuster.
Senators' use of filibusters has exploded in recent years, bringing the chamber to a screeching halt with regularity.
"The abuse of the filibuster has become rampant over the last few years," Merkley says. "When Lyndon Johnson was majority leader, he only had to deal with one filibuster. But in the last six years, Harry Reid has faced 386 filibusters as majority leader. Frankly, it's amazing that any legislation actually passes the Senate."
Not much does.
"The current Senate passed a record-low 2.8 percent of bills introduced in that chamber, a 66 percent decrease from 2005-2006, and a 90 percent decrease from the high in 1955-1956," reported a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
That's because of filibusters, the procedural move in the Senate that stops a bill from being considered. In the past, it was sometimes called talking a bill to death because a senator would claim the floor and keep talking to stop a bill from being considered.
These days, filibusters are easy. Talking is not required.
Stopping the filibuster requires a cloture vote -- a 60-vote majority before business can proceed.
It's time to change, Merkley says.
Merkley, a Democrat elected in 2008, says his answer is simple and preserves the right of every senator to block legislation.
The solution he offers will surprise anyone whose understanding of a filibuster is based on the old James Stewart movie, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." It's a requirement that a senator actually stand on the Senate floor and speak.
The minority still has the power to stop a bill, Merkley said in an interview. "But if there's a talking filibuster they'd have to do it in public."
............, filibusters today are used routinely to block legislation from even reaching the Senate floor.
Here's a quick parliamentary lesson: Before a bill can come to the full Senate for consideration, the Senate must agree to consider it. Approving the "motion to proceed" does that. It's a minor step that historically was waved through by voice vote.
No longer. From 2007 through 2012, silent objections to the motion to proceed have been raised 130 times. Each one requires 60 votes to erase. By comparison, the number between 1971 and 1982 was 18.
.................................more
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/us_sen_jeff_merkley_battles_to.html
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