"Durbin Launches Online Petition To Reform The Filibuster"

[Clio the Leo]

Durbin Launches Online Petition To Reform The Filibuster

The second ranking Democrat in the United States Senate is trying to fire up efforts to reform the filibuster rules that so often grind activity in his chamber to a halt.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois has launched an online petition titled "Fed Up With The Filibuster" in which he urges readers to show their support for a legislative remedy to the 60-vote requirement.

"The American people are sick of process blocking progress," Durbin writes on the page. "They're fed up with an arbitrary tradition that allows a minority of Senators to prevent popular, much-needed legislation from even coming to a vote."

"Frankly, so am I."

Durbin goes on to back a proposal being put forth by Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), which would allow the minority party to filibuster legislation but gradually reduce the threshold for cloture until it was a simple majority vote. Other suggestions put forth by Senate Democrats involve permanently lowering the threshold to 55 votes -- or simply re-writing the chamber's rules at the beginning of the next Congress.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/26/durbin-launches-online-pe_n_478225.html

Note, the petiton is saying it requires a password at the moment...
http://www.fedupwiththefilibuster.com/

[Rincewind]

1. I just signed,

it didn't ask for a password.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. I signed earlier in the week. What's the count today?

[timeforpeace]

2. Hey, someone should tell him that as a Senator he can just introduce legislation to that effect!

[FrenchieCat]

3. Maybe he wants to feel like he's got an army ready

for the fight in case they are needed.

Maybe he doesn't think things get done alone....
and that public sentiments can make as much a difference
if not more so than a handful of senators.

He would probably be right....

[Clio the Leo]

4. He wont need to....

... if the Dems can be successful in pointing out how the GOP is abusing it and they get so much blow back that they stop (or at least lay off of it.)

I'm not sure if the strategy is to ACTUALLY do away with the filibuster (or reform it) or just make it REALLY REALLY REALLY unpopular.

[Kaleva]

5. signed!

[andym]

6. signed. k+r nt.

[ericblair]

8. Very bad idea...

This is the kind of legislation you introduce immediately after winning big, not when things are looking grim for the mid-terms. All he's going to end up doing is greasing the skids for a Rethuglican rampage.