Last week the Senate voted to invoke cloture on a bill to save the U.S. Postal Service. Ordinarily, “invoking cloture” means that the Senate agrees that there will be a simple-majority vote on the underlying bill. It requires 60 votes to invoke cloture but only 51 votes (or 50, if the vice-president breaks the tie) to pass a bill. When the Senate invoked cloture, they were saying that the Postal Service bill will not be filibustered. But looks can be deceiving. In order to get the Republicans to agree to a vote on the final bill, Majority Leader Harry Reid had to agree to the introduction of 39 (mostly frivolous) amendments. And those amendments (by the unanimous consent of the Senate) must get 60 votes to pass. In addition, the whole bill must get 60 votes to pass.
David Waldman explains:
After a 2:15 p.m. vote on that NLRB resolution, the Senate will move to debate and vote on a laundry list of 39 amendments to the postal reform bill, almost one third of which come from Senators Coburn (R-OK) and Paul (R-KY). Just sayin’. All amendments, and the bill itself, will be subject to the “painless filibuster.” That is, all will require 60 votes to pass. That’s some deal, isn’t it? In exchange for not filibustering the bill, we get to sit through 39 amendments, all of which will end up requiring 60 votes to pass anyway, not to mention the bill itself.
So, we’re not just dealing with an undemocratic Senate in the sense that Wyoming has the same number of senators as California. It’s not just that we need 60 votes to get a vote on a bill. Now we’re dealing with a 60 vote requirement to pass a bill.
And we have to walk through the delay of invoking cloture and then debating and voting on 39 amendments, most of which are ridiculous and will only get a small minority of support.
That’s why I’m sympathetic to former Sen. Judd Gregg’s recommendation that Congress just go home until after the election. That way they can stop being a national embarrassment and a joke for a few months.
I’m sympathetic, but I’d rather that they stay and give the voters an object lesson on why the modern GOP doesn’t deserve to wield power on any level.