I'll be talking filibuster reform at a Netroots Nation panel this Saturday at 4pm Pacific. We'll be in room Brasilia 6, which means you can watch the panel live via streaming video here.
Filibuster reform is an expansive topic for debate and discussion. So much so that I find myself overwhelmed at the prospect of both bringing curious but novice observers up to speed and debating the finer points that assume a certain basic knowledge. The only solution I can think of is to break things up into bite-sized pieces and put them out there one at a time until the job is done. Here's the first installment.
Let's begin with the most basic question: Why doesn't the Senate just change the rules on cloture so that all this craziness can finally come to an end?
The answer lies, in two pieces, in the current Senate rules. First, Rule V:
The rules of the Senate shall continue from one Congress to the next Congress unless they are changed as provided in these rules.
And the second, in Rule XXII:
Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question:
"Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?" And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn -- except on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting -- then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.
Together, these provisions appear to mean that the rules continue from one Congress to the next and can only be changed as those rules allow, and that invoking cloture on any proposed rules change would require a 2/3 majority (or 67 votes in a full Senate).
If that was all there was to it, the discussion would end here. But of course, that's not it. There's much more to come.
Disclosure: I'm doing paid work as a Fellow for ProgressiveCongress.org in addressing the necessity of filibuster reform in the Senate. The Fellowship is being supported in part by CREDO Action and Blue America. You can help support this work by signing CREDO Action's petition and/or donating at Blue America's ActBlue page.