(From Fixthesenatenow.org)
Before the start of the 112th Congress, in December 2010 and January 2011, the Alliance for Justice, the Brennan Center, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Common Cause, the Sierra Club, United Auto Workers (UAW) and Voices for Progress led a broad coalition of progressive organizations, dubbed Fix the Senate Now, to support the Senate rules reform effort championed by Senators Merkley, Udall, and Harkin.Broad support for change took the form of more than 40,000 calls to Senate offices, more than 100,000 petitions signed and delivered to the Senate, and dozens of supportive editorials from national and state outlets coordinated through the coalition.
Now, recognizing that the modest “gentlemen’s agreement” package of reforms agreed to at the start of this Congress hasn’t changed the rampant obstructionism in the Senate, the Fix the Senate Now coalition is re-engaging, making the case that substantial Senate rules reform in the next Congress is still needed.
The Alliance for Justice, the Brennan Center, CWA, Common Cause, the Sierra Club, UAW and Voices for Progress are among the organizations involved in renewed conversations to back substantial Senate rules reforms. Other organizations and academics will likely join the effort to support rules reform and to back substantial reforms similar to those backed by Senators Merkley, Udall, and Harkin at the start of this 112th Congress.
10 comments:
If pieces of legislation aren't even being open to be debated on the senate floor, then how do we expect to see change in the country? Some legislation has potential to benefit citizens yet the rules allow for senators to pick and choose what they want to do.
I agree with Valeria and that this is a huge roadblock in trying to get legislation passed. But its also a problem I think many people dont know how to solve. Yeah we dont like it, but you cant shut out and deny someone the chance, or the minority to not be able to express their point of view. Obviously people have taken it to extremes but I still think the whole idea was based on the fundamental idea of equality and equal represenation.
I actually remember hearing a lot about senate filibuster reform around my home and on TV. The motion for change to the silent filibuster probably is backed by fixthesenatenow.org and the organizations forming it (CWA, common clause, etc). I also went onto the website itself, and other ideas that people want to reform within the senate are no longer being able to filibuster the idea of discussing a bill, and also decreasing the number of votes necessary to end a filibuster. I think that these are some very reasonable measures to take into ensuring that action within the Senate is taken, and bills are rejected or passed in more of an efficient manner, rather than just sitting in filibuster. Although the proposed measures are dramatic all things considered, because the measures would just be eliminating short cuts I don't think they would infringe on any senator's rights to speech and representation, like what Rohan seemed to be alluding to.
Quick comment. Just read that Congress is finally starting to take gun legislation head on. I watched this video and couldnt believe how crazy some people get in this country.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/01/08/pmt-jones-deport-piers-debate-part-1.cnn
I agree with most people that there is a "road block" legislation in congress. People should be able to express their views, but they take it to a extent that is almost detrimental to the people. They make it so its almost impossible for any work to get done in congress. It's interesting because perhaps thats the main reason congress has such a low approval rating.
Yes I too agree. I've heard many times that this congress doesn't know how to do anything any more because they have not done anything productive in a long time. Like Karan, I think people have the right to express their views, but when people take it to far it can back fire. Such as as the Westbro Baptist Church. (I know this is very off topic) Groups such as them have people proposing many ideas to Congress and Congress has done basically nothing. The fact that they can not, sometimes it seems like they will not, do anything is why the Congress has such a low approval rating.
I hope that there is filibuster reform... what would really stink is if someone filibusters the filibuster reform bill... I think if there is filibuster reform that would definitely jump start more legislative action. However, when the legislative branch is made to be slow and kill a lot of bills, it's still never going to be what we want it to.
The chart itself is proof enough that the Congress is becoming more and more dysfunctional. The fact is that the politics of government have actually made "change" something harder to produce.
The delay of legislation is a definite problem in the current Congress (and has been for the last several). Filibuster reform is a good idea, but for me it all goes back to the outrageous political partisanship between Democrats and Republicans. If the competition is so intense that lawmakers resort to stopping a bill of the other party to win a small battle that is the problem that should be talked about; not the delay that occurs as a result.
I think that people don't know much about filibusters and how pieces of legislation aren't being heard because, like in a filibuster, not much is being said! If we are having problems with filibusters and the way they work and not opening pieces of legislation to the senate, we need to do something about it and actually make it a known thing so that everyone knows what is going on.
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