Sign the petition--make the filibuster a real filibuster!
This is a big frakking deal. All 53 members of the Democratic Senate caucus who will be in the Senate next year have signed a letter calling for Senate rules concerning the filibuster to be reformed:
All Democratic senators returning next year have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging him to consider action to change long-sacrosanct filibuster rules.
The letter, delivered this week, expresses general frustration with what Democrats consider unprecedented obstruction and asks Reid to take steps to end those abuses. While it does not urge a specific solution, Democrats said it demonstrates increased backing in the majority for a proposal, championed by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and others, weaken the minority’s ability to tie the Senate calendar into parliamentary knots.
Among the chief revisions that Democrats say will likely be offered: Senators could not initiate a filibuster unless they first muster 40 votes in support of it, and they would have to remain on the floor to sustain it. That is a change from current rules, which require the majority leader to file a cloture motion to overcome an anonymous objection to a motion to proceed, and then wait 30 hours for a vote on it.
With all 53 Democrats signing on, the question now is not if Senate rules will be reformed, but how they will be reformed. As the article above states, while this letter (which has not been released to the public) urges that the rules be changes, it does not actually list specific changes that everyone supports.
On our end, the reform we are pushing hardest is to make the filibuster a real filibuster--that is, Senators have to stay on the floor and give a talk-a-thon to sustain a filibuster. We’re joining with Senators Jeff Merkely and Tom Udall to help make this happen.
Sign our petition to make the filibuster a real filibuster. Tom Udall and Jeff Merkley will use it to help make the for the real filibuster case to their colleagues.
We appear to have won the fought in support of Senate rules reform. Now, we must win the fight for the right kind of rules reform.