Now, if they’ll just stick to their guns…
Not something Dems are known for….
All Senate Democrats returning to Congress next year have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking him to take up filibuster reform first thing in the new year.
It’s a sign that the Republicans’ use of the filibuster at historically high rates to block Democratic legislation may have backfired, and coalesced the political capital needed to change Senate rules.
The letter, delivered this week, “expresses general frustration with what Democrats consider unprecedented obstruction and asks Reid to take steps to end those abuses,” the National Journal reports.
Among the chief revisions that Democrats say will likely be offered: Senators could not initiate a filibuster of a bill before it reaches the floor unless they first muster 40 votes for it, and they would have to remain on the floor to sustain it. That is a change from current rules, which require the majority leader to file a cloture motion to overcome an anonymous objection to a motion to proceed, and then wait 30 hours for a vote on it.
“There have been more filibusters since 2006 than the total between 1920 and 1980,” Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) says.
via Senate Dems unanimous: Time for filibuster reform | Raw Story.
Lost in the 21st Century 