The solution to the Republicans' abuse of the filibuster to stop every single bill with which they disagree is very simple. It is the way these things worked all through U.S. history. A "yes" vote on cloture is a vote to cut off debate on a bill and allow a vote on it. A "no" vote is a vote to continue debating. Historically, when cloture vote fails to receive the necessary super-majority (currently 60 votes) this means precisely what it says it means. Debate continues on the bill in question until cloture is called again.
If Republicans want to use the filibuster for every single bill they are welcome to try. But it is political suicide for Democrats to accede to it by simply saying "OK, you win, we don't have the 60 votes, we'll be nice and move on to the next bill." They don't have to move on to the next bill and they must not move on to the next bill.
The filibuster is an important tool for minority parties to act in extraordinary situations to protect their values on matters of the utmost importance to them. But in the entire history of the United States no minority party has ever attempted to use it on everything as Republicans are currently doing.
[More below the fold.]
Amazingly, the mainstream media and even Senate Democratic leaders have played right along with them, referring to the "60 votes necessary" to pass a bill. This is outrageous and it has to stop. This is literally unprecedented in the history of this country.
Senate Democrats need to move immediately to change the rules of engagement with the Republicans. They have this morning blocked votes on two tremendously important bills -- the restoration of habeas corpus and Jim Webb's bill to ensure that troops returning from Iraq have a reasonable period of rest before they are redeployed. Both of these bills have clear majority support in the Senate.
Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats need to take the results of the cloture votes right to the Republicans at face value -- continue the debate on these bills for as long as it takes. Don't allow anything else -- including War funding, the Attorney General confirmation, and whatever else is up -- to come up for a vote until they allow a vote on these bills.
Enough is enough!
P.S. I would like to note with appreciation the six Republicans who voted "yes" on cloture for habeas restoration according to firedoglake: Hagel, Snowe, Lugar, Specter, Smith and Sununu. I would like to note with pure disgust the "no" vote of the despicable Joe Lieberman. If only one of those principled Republicans would switch parties the party could be rid of him for good.
|
|
|
Permalink :: 2 Comments :: Post a Comment
|
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.
