Hollywood’s faux filibuster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n#5) Require filibustering senators to hold the floor:<\/strong> The public believes that filibustering senators have to hold the floor. Indeed, the public perceives the filibuster as an act of principled public courage and sacrifice. Let\u2019s make it so. Require a specific number of Senators — I suggest five for the first 24 hours, 10 for the second 24 hours, and 20 thereafter — to be on the floor to sustain the filibuster. This accomplishes two important objectives. It makes a filibuster visible to all Americans. And it places the responsibility for maintaining the filibuster squarely upon those objecting to the regular order<\/p>\n#6) Require continuous debate:<\/strong> . ..Under this requirement, if a speaker concludes (arguing either side) and there is no senator who wishes to speak, the regular order is immediately restored, debate is concluded, and a simple majority vote is held according to further details established in the rules. This further expands the visibility of the filibuster. Americans who tune in to observe the filibuster would not see a quorum call, but would see a debate in process.<\/p>\n#7) Establish the right of the minority to offer amendments: <\/strong>The Senate wastes enormous amounts of time trying to work out a structure for the presentation and debate of amendments on any given bill. The Senate needs a regular order for the presentation of amendments so that, in the absence of an agreement between the Majority and Minority leaders, debate will proceed.<\/p>\n#8) Decrease the segregation of members<\/strong>: Members of the Senate are segregated by party. They sit on different sides of the aisle in the Senate chamber. They sit on opposite sides of the room in committees. They caucus separately. Even the pages on the floor are designated as \u201cDemocratic\u201d pages or \u201cRepublican\u201d pages. These practices may not have been significant in the past when senators lived in Washington and socialized on evenings and weekends. But now senators work evenings and then fly home, greatly diminishing the time for informal interactions with each other.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWill anything change in the 112th Congress, which convenes in January 2011? That, too, is debatable. And here’s the kicker: it’s not even clear whether rules changes are, themselves, subject to a filibuster.<\/p>\n
Image credit: Mario Piperni.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everybody [at least everybody who wants an effective democracy] talks about ending “filibuster abuse,” but who\u2019s doing something about it? At least one US<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,16],"tags":[200,2490,1339],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>