I’m not sure why some Democrats in the Senate enjoy giving the Republican minority effective veto power over their entire agenda, but according to Politico that seems to be the case among senior leadership.
There’s no deal yet on how to change Senate filibuster rules, but Democrats and Republicans are finding common ground in two other areas: ending the practice of so-called secret holds and smoothing the way for presidential nominees.
Senate leaders from both parties are still trying to avoid a drawn-out fight over changing the rules to make it harder to filibuster…
…Senior Democrats hope a group of junior party members, led by New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall, will not carry through with a threat to try to allow changes to Senate rules by a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than a two-thirds majority of 67 votes.
The only real justification is that it the effort won’t succeed so trying just sets a bad precedent.
While Udall appears to lack the votes, a number of Democrats fear an effort to do that could set a damaging precedent if Republicans regain the majority after 2012.
But, why the hell won’t it succeed? Why doesn’t Udall have the votes? Look. Getting nominees confirmed is nice. Getting rid of secret holds is good. But the problem is that the Republicans won’t vote for ANYTHING that doesn’t conform EXACTLY with THEIR agenda. If you want to pass Mitch McConnell’s priorities, then by all means keep the 60-vote requirement for all spending bills. We’ll gut PBS and NPR and foreign aid and money for the United Nations and money for transportation and schools, and gut the federal workforce. We’ll do that not because we want to or because we think it’s good policy, but because the majority would prefer to keep the present system that turns 59 senators into the minority.
Ultimately, the president is the one who will suffer the most. But, along with that, all the people who voted for him and believe in his ability to lead will suffer. This system is ridiculous and it’s a goddamned joke (albeit, a perfectly predictable joke) that the Democrats don’t have the votes to change the filibuster rule in a way that will enable to govern as a majority.
