Reforming The Filibuster

 Josh Marshall takes on one of the more important issues facing the government: the filibuster. Let's start with the obvious: the filibuster is terrible. It is almost always used for terrible things. For much of its history it was reserved for blocking civil rights legislation. Since "conservatism" became a rabid anti-governmental ideology, it has morphed into basically stymieing any measure proposed by Democrats. Since Democrats run on making the government function better for more people, Republicans can hamstring those proposals from becoming laws...therefore proving that government doesn't work. Look at the Affordable Care Act: it was basically unpopular, until it became settled law. Now it's pretty popular and Republican efforts to actively kill it backfired on them.

I've long held that the filibuster should be "decaying." That is to say that when a measure comes to the floor, it requires 60 votes for cloture, but three weeks later, it needs 57. Three weeks after that, 54. Three weeks after that? A majority. Marshall brings this up as a possible example of reform.

Another example, and one I could see Manchin and Sinema supporting, is to flip the burden of the filibuster. Rather than require 60 votes for cloture, require 40 votes to block cloture. That means that when Schumer brings a minimum wage bill to the floor, and maybe it's only raised to $12 and hour to placate Sinema, Manchin and others, the Republicans would have to come to the floor and block it. The optics are just different. Plus, it's exhausting to maintain. Marshall's right that currently the filibuster is easier than opting out of an email subscription. All McConnell has to do is tell Schumer he has the votes and it never even appears on the floor. This way, you force individual members to show their ass.

The Senate just passed a $1.9 trillion relief plan. Naturally, the Twitterverse and Cosplay Socialists are up in arms, because it only does a helluva lot for Americans as opposed to everything for Americans. This is a monumentally important bill and it was necessary to get it through.

Now, we will see standalone bills for voting rights, police reform, immigration reform and the minimum wage. As currently structured, McConnell can invisibly block these bills. By reforming the filibuster in a way that could appeal to Manchin and others, you can shift the burden on to Republicans.  

I guess I can understand why Manchin voted against a $15 minimum wage (Sinema's decision escapes me), given the economics of his home state. I am marginally hopeful that he has been a pain in the ass on Neera Tanden and aspects of the Covid relief bill in order to support filibuster "reform" when the GOP starts blocking everything in sight.  We shall see.