Democrats seek Senate rules changes to speed passage of legislation

(02/19/2010)

WASHINGTON - Democrats are increasingly frustrated with the gridlock that stalls action in the Senate and are looking at ways to change it.

At issue is the chamber's requirement that 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster, which allows a minority of senators to block votes on legislation they don't like.

Some lawmakers have proposed changing the requirement. They say partisan gridlock has become so routine that Democrats who control the Senate must obtain 60 votes on almost everything - from health care reform legislation to presidential nominations.

Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders of Vermont said they would support changing the 60-vote rule, but Leahy said any change must allow for debate on issues.

"It's one thing if you have a major, major issue and you want to slow it up for a few days just to get more information, but when it's done just so that you never have to vote on an issue, that's irresponsible," said Leahy, a Democrat.

Sanders, an independent, said much of the congressional gridlock "has to do with deliberate obstructionism on the part of the Republicans right now, and I think looking at filibuster reform... is something that I certainly intend to pursue."

In 2005, when Republicans ran the Senate and tried to change the 60-vote rule, Democrats extolled the virtues of the filibuster, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky recalled.

"All majorities flirt with rules changes," McConnell told the Washington Post recently. "My guess is most of the current majority aren't suffering from amnesia."

Generally, it takes 67 votes - or two thirds of the Senate - to change a rule. There are 57 Democratic senators and two independents, including Sanders, who vote with them, meaning a change would need backing by eight Republicans.

That seems highly unlikely. Still, several Democratic senators are examining it, and Vice President Joe Biden told reporters he'd asked his staff to research ways to address changing the 60-vote requirement.

Biden made those comments Feb. 4, shortly after swearing in the newest member of the Senate, Republican Scott Brown. Brown's upset victory in Massachusetts gave Republicans 41 votes and knocked Democrats down to 59.

"Washington right now is broken," the former senator from Delaware said during a CBS interview this week. "I don't ever recall a time in my career where to get anything done you needed a supermajority.

Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, while not arguing for specific rule changes, has proposed allowing the Senate to "exercise its Constitutional right" to adopt procedural rules by a simple majority vote.

This month, Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, both Democrats, introduced a resolution that would allow a decreasing majority of senators to end debate on a piece of legislation after several rounds of votes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada suggested recently that such proposals stand little chance to pass.

"It takes 67 votes, and that kind of answers the question," he said.

Both Leahy and Sanders agreed, although Sanders said it's possible some Republicans would back reforms that wouldn't take place until some future date, when it would be a "toss of the dice" as to who's in power. He is examining the resolutions introduced by Harkin and Udall and researching whether to introduce his own.

Sanders notes that the filibuster isn't the only form of Republican obstruction. He withdrew his plan to create a single-payer health insurance system in December after Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma requested that Senate clerks read aloud all 767 pages of the proposal on the Senate floor.

"You want to protect minority rights," Sanders said. "On the other hand, you don't want the minority abusing their position."

Republicans say members of the Democratic caucus blocked passage of legislation when they were in the minority.

But Leahy and Sanders said Republicans are taking the use of filibusters to new extremes. They point to an increasing number of cloture votes that Democrats say are necessary because Republicans continually raise objections and block legislation..

The number of Senate cloture votes more than doubled - from 54 to 112 - from the 109th Congress (2005-2006) to the 110th (2007-2008), according to the Senate historical office. Last year, there were 39 cloture votes.

As other evidence of "obstructionism," Sanders cited the holds that Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama placed - and has since dropped - on 70 of Obama's nominees to protest administration decisions affecting Alabama.

They say that much of the legislation on which Republicans force cloture votes winds up passing overwhelmingly.

"That's nothing but delay for the sake of delaying, and that's irresponsible," Leahy said

Source: Burlington Free Press