Way, way back in November 2006, the Democrats boasted that they had captured control of Congress. They had won majorities in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, and they gave the impression that they intended to undo many bad things that the Bush Administration had done. We should have known better from the first. It was apparent immediately that the Democrats had veto-proof majorities in neither house. Worse, Bush wouldn't have to bother vetoing most of the legislation he most feared because it wouldn't get past the Senate. In the upper house, the cloture rule applies, dating back no further than 1917 and last modified in the 1970s. Under this rule, anyone who wants to pass a bill needs the support of 60 Senators to end debate. In a partisan age, if no one party has the 60 votes, a state of gridlock exists in effect.
I intend to knock the Democrats pretty often in this space, but in today's case of the thwarted bill to extend leave time for servicemen returning from combat, all blame belongs to the Republicans. It doesn't belong to all of them, since six voted for the bill, but blind partisan loyalty to Bush and the war limited the total vote to 56, and anything short of 60 might as well be zero under existing rules.
Cloture is a rule the Senate set for itself. Senators have also set the rules for changing the rule, even though they disagree about it today. It was long believed that a two-thirds majority was needed to change or eliminate cloture, but Republicans recently said it would take only a simple majority, which they threatened to use if Democrats objected too strongly to Bush's Supreme Court nominees. Some may say that imposing a supermajority requirement is a good thing because it prevents one political party from forcing its will at will upon the other. Since I'd like people to imagine an age without political parties in the current oppressive sense, I think we should eventually arrange things, preferably via constitutional amendment, so that any coalition of 51 Senators can get something accomplished. They'd still need a two-thirds majority to override a Presidential veto, but there's no reason for the Senate to be able to veto itself in mockery of majority rule.
1 comment:
It's been 32 years since any amendments to the cloture rule were made. It's way past time to forward the process into the 21st century. The way I see it, there is no real discipline in either party, except when it comes to solidarity behind certain leaders, be it Princess Swillary for the Demos or King Warhawk of the Republicans.
There needs to be a certain amount of downtime for returning troops. Say, for example, about 3-6 months minimum, no more than a year to 13 months before being called back into service. Of course, in the White House, common sense needs a green card just to get in.
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