Jenna Frosch
U.S. Senator Tom Udall is leading the charge for a much-needed reform of the rules that guide how the U.S. Senate passes our nation’s laws. I supported Senator Udall in 2008 and share his frustration with the way important legislation can get bogged down in the Senate.
It was therefore disappointing to see a column on this Web site from former Republican House staffer Joshua Baca last week that seemed to miss the point of Sen. Udall’s proposals.
Most motions in the Senate require unanimous consent to proceed, so it only takes one senator to say “no.” One senator can filibuster a bill, one senator can anonymously put a “hold” on a nomination or legislation to prevent it from moving, and one senator can hold out on a bill to serve his or her own interests rather than the greater good.
This wouldn’t be so bad if, as Sen. Udall wrote in his own commentary on this site, this power was used “rarely and judiciously” like the famous depiction of the filibuster in Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But in the Senate today, it is clear that this responsibility has been abused.
Sen. Udall’s proposal tackles the troubling truth about how business is conducted in the Senate. Cloture (requiring 60 “yea” votes) ends the unlimited debate allowed by the Senate to bring the matter to a
vote. In the past, filibusters have served to allow for extended deliberation on legislation; but, in recent years their only purpose seems to have been obstruction.
Ezra Klein noted in Newsweek that between 2007 and March of this year, the Senate called 214 cloture votes. That’s more than there were between 1919 and 1976. In the last two months, that number has climbed to 231.
Republicans have not been shut out
Baca’s piece was not only inaccurate, but also straight from the Washington Republican playbook. It may be that Baca doesn’t clearly recollect the functions of the Senate from his days as a Senate page, or that he’s a small piece of the Washington establishment that shudders when an independent-minded senator from New Mexico wants to reform a city that is too often dominated by partisan and special interests.
Republicans have not been shut out of the lawmaking process, as Baca suggests. In fact, Democrats have reached out for Republican ideas on virtually every piece of legislation that we’ve seen since Obama took office. The truth is that Republicans decided early on that a policy of blatant opposition and obstruction would score political points, despite its effect on the legislative process.
Rather than coming together to govern, Republicans have made politics their first priority and, in doing so, they have made history with their insistence to obstruct.
Baca correctly asserts, “most New Mexicans are more concerned with the unemployment rate, budget deficits and a lagging economy than Senate parliamentary procedure.” Unfortunately, it’s because of Republican obstruction that attempts at passing this kind of legislation have been consistently blocked. Is it OK for a single senator to cut off unemployment insurance for New Mexicans and stop jobs at a Carlsbad park project?
I don’t think so, and I bet most New Mexicans would agree with me.
The year-long health care debate is also cited by Baca as evidence that the Senate is functioning properly. He mentions the “special deals” – which were removed from the final bill, by the way – as
evidence of partisanship, rather than a dysfunctional, Senate. In reality, these deals were the result of single senators leveraging the massive power they have in a legislature that requires 60 votes for
everything.
Udall should be commended, not derided
When Senator Udall stands up and says he and his colleagues should check their power for the greater good, he should be commended, not derided.
Udall’s proposal is simple. He is not, as Baca states, advocating for abolishing the filibuster. He is calling on senators to review and adopt the rules the Senate operates under at the beginning of the next
Congress – an obligation spelled out in Article 1, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution. His fellow senators should follow Udall and look at how rules like the filibuster can be looked at to make the Senate work again.
Our country faces far too many crises for legislation to be logjammed in a system that doesn’t work. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed 290 bills – many of them unanimously – that sit in the Senate untouched.
Perhaps Baca is right and things are fine as they are. Republicans successfully blocked debating legislation to hold Wall Street accountable three times last week. Or perhaps there will be serious
ramifications for our democracy if “the world’s greatest deliberative body” continues to let dysfunction take hold.
Frosch recently graduated from New Mexico State University and was a supporter of Udall’s 2008 run for Senate. She has worked in the Senate as a press intern and in the New Mexico Film Office under the Economic Development Department as a Governor’s Fellow.