This is a class blog for the students of POLSCI 426: Congressional Politics at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Why not "get out the cots and do it for real?"

This post explains the evolution of the filibuster, and how it has made the Senate "a dam in the governing stream."

3 comments:

Nicholas Reindl said...

Do it like the did way back in the day.

Make 'em read the DC phone book and the Betty Crocker recipe books.

s_shields said...

It's frustrating to see a deliberative body like the Senate completely unable to get anything done because of such transparent and shameless partisanship, but on the other hand, it's probably a good thing that the majority party at any given time does not have completely unchecked power to pass any piece of legislation it wants to. Maybe a reasonable solution would be to lower the number of votes needed to break the filibuster? As we've seen in recent months, getting 60 senators to agree on anything is almost impossible.

Jeremy said...

I saw on the news a bit that a Democratic Senator from Ohio stated they were working on getting rid of the fillibuster entirely. Seriously? That is about the most toxic thing I have heard in a long time. Maybe the Dems won't lose control of the Senate this fall, maybe even not this decade. But power will always ebb and flow, and when they do lose it they will eat it.
Instead of getting rid of the fillibuster, why not get rid of the cloture vote. I agree, make em bust out the cots. If it means that much to you to stop it let the cameras roll as they read the bible and phone book.

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