![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Udall-Tom.jpg\" "\\"Udall,")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall<\/a>, D-N.M., appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show<\/a> on MSNBC Tuesday evening to promote his idea to reform the way the Senate does business.<\/p>\n Udall wants to change the rules in the Senate so the mere threat of a filibuster can\u2019t stop debate on a bill. As Maddow pointed out, some 290 bills that have passed the House are languishing in the Senate because of the threat of filibuster.<\/p>\n \u201cThe filibuster is being used as a weapon of partisanship, and so we\u2019ve got to focus on how to change it,\u201d Udall said.<\/p>\n When he was in the House and running for Senate in 2008, Udall said he was seeking to move from one chamber to the other in part because he was tired of working to pass a bill in the House only to have it die in the Senate.<\/p>\n Many of Udall\u2019s colleagues believe it takes 67 senators to amend Senate rules \u2013 so, essentially, the threat of a filibuster can stop any attempt to change the rules on fillibusters. Udall and some others have argued that the U.S. Constitution allows the rules to be changed by a simple majority vote of senators.<\/p>\n And Udall intends, at the start of the next Congress in 2011, to make a motion to amend the rules and see what happens.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gaining momentum every day. \u2026 There is a real concern about the way the rules are being used right now,\u201d Udall told Maddow. \u201cWhat we need the American people to do is speak out. You need to contact your senators and say, \u2018Get down to business.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s video of the interview:<\/p>\n