U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., has been talking for months about changing the Senate’s rules. He’ll get his chance to propose changes today.
But “today” might last longer than normal. From the Albuquerque Journal:
“It now appears that Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid will resort to the unusual tactic of prolonging — for the record, at least — the first legislative day of the session until after the Senate returns from its Martin Luther King Jr. week recess, allowing more time for work on a compromise.”
“Udall is proposing that it only take a simple majority to invoke cloture — a rule that requires 60 votes to allow a bill to proceed into debate.
It takes only 51 votes to change Senate rules on the first day of a congressional session — a requirement that would go unchanged by Reid’s extension of the first legislative day. Rule changes at any other time require a two-thirds majority vote.
“Udall and a group of colleagues also want to end secret holds on legislation and to require senators to actually remain on the floor when engaging in a filibuster.”