January's Most Important Vote: The Senate Vote to Fix the Filibuster

Mitch Rofsky, HuffPost, Posted: 01/15/2013 11:40 am

While media attention has been focused on the "fiscal cliff," the January 1st vote and the upcoming debt ceiling battle, a more important vote is scheduled for the Senate next week: the reform of the Senate filibuster rules.

After all, the fiscal cliff "just" involved the budget. Senate filibusters now alter or block nearly every piece of legislation the Senate considers.

The need for reform is obvious: the explosion of filibusters (more than 300 during the past 6 years -- as compared to, say, one in the six years that Lyndon Johnson ran the Senate). The legislation that could never come to the floor (ex. The Dream Act for undocumented children, The Disclosure Act to require reporting of big political contributors to independent groups). And the legislation that has been weakened in order to get to 60 votes (including Obamacare).

Effectively, there is now a requirement that legislation (with exceptions involving the budget) can only pass the Senate with a 60 vote majority.

(More here.)