As readers of this blog may know, I am no fan of Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader. Had he been leader in 1967/8, I doubt there would be a Voters Rights Act, let alone a Civil Rights Act. More likely, LBJ would have ensured that his colleagues fired him.
But last week, old Harry took the role of Butch Cassidy. Picture the scene. Butch [Harry Reid] arrives at the lair of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang [the Senate] and is confronted by a big bully [the Tea Party-leaning Republicans.] What happens next is short and sweet. As the bully prepares to fight, Butch tells him, “you gotta know the rules.” “What rules?” is the response. “There are no rules,” replies Butch as he administers a kick to the bully’s privates.
That’s what occurred in the Senate last week. For the past few years, the Republicans have been in the minority but have managed to frustrate and delay the administration in making appointments, especially to the judiciary. They have built a parliamentary road block the mere threat of a filibuster. To be accurate, the worry over a filibuster has been sufficient to prevent the Senate Democrats taking to a vote many appointments requiring Senate consent to a vote.
It’s an odd word, “filibuster.” It comes from the Dutch vrijbuiter, which translates into ‘privateer’ or ‘pirate’ but more politely ‘freebooter.’ A filibustering senator can speak for as long as he wishes on any topic he chooses to “talk out” a motion. However, he must stay standing and he is not allowed to eat or drink. To help, colleagues may ask him to yield for a question on the motion, giving an element of relief. During the question, the filibusterer is allowed to sit.
Effectively, a filibuster is a procedure to extend a debate and delay or prevent a vote. It is a manoeuvre where the minority exerts power. Under US Senate rules, a filibuster can only be terminated by a cloture motion which requires sixty votes. The Democrats do not have sixty votes in the Senate. Hence, the Republicans have exerted real legislative power to defeat, frustrate and neutralise the Democrat administration. This is why the President has issued more executive orders than any of his predecessors but an executive order can be defeated by Congress, so it’s a dangerous option. It looks bad when an EO is reversed.
Let’s get back to Butch/Harry. Under rules which applied until last week, a Senate motion for a rule change could itself be filibustered unless two thirds of the Senate present and voting broke it. In a clever move, the Senate voted 52 to 48 to require a simple majority to end a filibuster of specified executive and judicial appointments. In other words, the Democrats would no longer be frustrated by Republican political machinations in preventing the much needed filling of judicial and government appointments. Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, normally a reserved and polite man, was anything but this during the debate, turning his back on his opponents and calling the move “a Democratic power grab.” Well, hypocrisy is a politician’s strong point isn’t it? Might I remind Mr McConnell that the Democrats hold the majority in the Senate?
And there’s the rub. One day, perhaps in 2014, the American voters may return a Republican majority to the Senate. I don’t see this happening so quickly but maybe by 2016, the Democrats generally will have reached heights of unpopularity sufficient to leave the Republicans may be in charge. If and when this happens, the Republican-ruled Senate will undoubtedly use the changes to the filibuster rules to their advantage, pushing through appointments which Democrats would oppose.
My conclusion is that currently Congress is replete with politicians wanting their own way. Too many legislators are not people who wish to govern for the benefit of all. If I am right, this is a sad state of affairs. What will change this attitude? American voters are so divided that it is difficult to see a sufficient number of moderates from both parties winning against their extremist colleagues. It follows that in America, partisan politics will be the order of the day for the foreseeable future.
No comments:
Post a Comment