Harry Reid’s ban didn’t go far enough
By Timothy Noah
MSNBC, 11/22/13 04:00 AM
In April 2005, when Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened to eliminate use of the filibuster against judicial nominees, there was only one problem. He didn’t go far enough. Now that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has actually carried out Frist’s threat, extending the prohibition to all Senate confirmation votes save those for the Supreme Court, the same drawback pertains: Reid didn’t eliminate the filibuster in every instance. Still, it’s a good start, and there’s every reason to believe the filibuster will soon be a thing of the past. Like the Berlin Wall, it’s not an edifice you can dismantle halfway.
No one can plausibly accuse Reid of acting in haste. The number of Senate cloture votes—a rough proxy for the number of filibusters—has been rising steadily in recent decades, and after Republicans lost the majority in 2006 it more than doubled. If eliminating the filibuster was justifiable in 2005—and it was—it is much more so today.
Granted, the number of cloture votes fell a bit after the 110th Congress (2007-8). But that merely reflected greater caution on the part of the Democratic majority. The number of bills actually passed in the Senate fell from 556 in the 110th Congress to 176 in the 111th (2009-10) and 364 in the 112th (2011-12). By contrast, from 1947 through 1978 the number of bills that passed the Senate in any given two-year session never fell below 1,000. This is what commentators mean when they say that the modern Senate is broken; its ability to pass laws is, by historical standards, greatly diminished, and has been for more than three decades.
(More here.)
MSNBC, 11/22/13 04:00 AM
In April 2005, when Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened to eliminate use of the filibuster against judicial nominees, there was only one problem. He didn’t go far enough. Now that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has actually carried out Frist’s threat, extending the prohibition to all Senate confirmation votes save those for the Supreme Court, the same drawback pertains: Reid didn’t eliminate the filibuster in every instance. Still, it’s a good start, and there’s every reason to believe the filibuster will soon be a thing of the past. Like the Berlin Wall, it’s not an edifice you can dismantle halfway.
No one can plausibly accuse Reid of acting in haste. The number of Senate cloture votes—a rough proxy for the number of filibusters—has been rising steadily in recent decades, and after Republicans lost the majority in 2006 it more than doubled. If eliminating the filibuster was justifiable in 2005—and it was—it is much more so today.
Granted, the number of cloture votes fell a bit after the 110th Congress (2007-8). But that merely reflected greater caution on the part of the Democratic majority. The number of bills actually passed in the Senate fell from 556 in the 110th Congress to 176 in the 111th (2009-10) and 364 in the 112th (2011-12). By contrast, from 1947 through 1978 the number of bills that passed the Senate in any given two-year session never fell below 1,000. This is what commentators mean when they say that the modern Senate is broken; its ability to pass laws is, by historical standards, greatly diminished, and has been for more than three decades.
(More here.)
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