will be helped along by Harry Reid.
Reid has to take the fillibuster fight to the hoop if for no other reason than to force the "moderate" wing of the Republican party to reassert itself.
Here is a simple example of what I am talking about: The asbestos bill currently under consideration in the Senate Judicary Committee would . . .
More below the fold:
resolve hundreds of thousands of claims by people who claim they are sick from exposure to asbestos. 60 companies who made or manufactured asbestos-containing products (with varying degrees of culpability) have already gone bankrupt and more are on the brink. The trial lawyers have Ford, GM and Chrysler (to name but a few) under siege. The litigation has been ongoing for over 25 years and many of the same issues are litigated over and over with
more than 50% of the transction costs going just to lawyers (on both sides). There are a lot of companies that would like to trade the certainty of the trust fund that has been proposed under the bill for the casino-esque tort system.
However, the asbestos bill will likely be one of the first casualties in a nuclear Senate winter. Leahy is a co-sponsor and Feinstein has said she is likely to support it, but Leahy is on record as saying he will be powerless to stop his Democratic colleagues from scuttling the bill in retaliation for Frist's fillibuster coup d'etat.
Despite this, the business interests remain mute (at least publicly) and seem content to allow the far right to drive the agenda. Perhaps they don't believe the Democrats are serious. Perhaps they think they never had it so good since they joined up with Dobson & Co. But at some point, it may occur to them that the far right agenda of getting Priscilla Owen a seat on the 5th Circuit and passing laws to stick a tube back into Terry Schavio is not what they need out of this Congress or this Administartion. Maybe then the CEOs of the big corporations who have been the traditional pillar of the GOP will finally wake up and grab Rove by the throat and say, "cut this bullshit out and get on with it."
Some may think that the asbestos bill will pass regardless because if the GOP can get the bankruptcy bill through, they will get everything else they want. But this bill is one where they will need Democratic help. The AFL-CIO supports this bill while other unions do not. The Big Three automakers support it, while Exxon and Liberty Mutual do not. (Exxon has hired Dick Armey to lobby against the bill which prompted Specter to write a recent NYT Op-Ed piece in opposition to Armey's efforts.) The bill will go nowhwere without bipartisan support because there are a number of Republicans (Cornyn, Coburn, Kyl, and others) who are opposed for various reasons at this point. In addition, there have been about 100 amendments proposed in committee.
As an aside, the only entity really being bailed out by the bill is the US Government who was one of the largest users of asbestos of all time (for example, it was considered a strategic material during WWII because it was used to fireproof and strengthen ship hulls). Under the bill, the government pays nothing while manufacturers, suppliers and insurers will all have to kick in to the trust for at least the next 20-25 years. Some will have to kick in heavily which is why Exxon, et al. are fighting the bill. The companies that support it do so not because they will skate, but because it will provide more certainity than the civil jury system.
I think Reid & Co. can help divide the GOP, but he will need to dig in on the fillibuster. It can work assuming the Dems do it right. People get pissed off when they can't get a passport or get into the Smithsonian. They could care less whether we have a UN ambassador or not.
The Dems can tie things up in knots without pissing people off. If they are smart, they will trade around the responsibility for creating havoc so no single Senator takes the heat. Biden shuts down the Foreign Relations Committee on Monday, Boxer puts a hold on Bolton on Tuesday, Reid says no unanimous consent on Wednesday . . . but the government stays open, the troops get their supplies, etc.
It'll be like whack-a-mole. It'll drive Frist nuts and lead to the inevitable fissure.