For the past few months, I have believed that we will be able to get a HCR Bill through the Senate. And the process to pass HCR has gone farther than anytime in history. I realised there were a lot of challenges to get 60 votes, but the country needs a HCR Bill. I considered, this to be HCR Part 1. My idea was that once HCR Part 1 passes, and 4 years or so down the road everybody is seeing the benefits of it, we can get to work on HCR Part 2 - more cost control, more choice.
But, we have had our challengers, from within the Democratic caucus. Be it Lincoln, Nelson, or our 2000 VP candidate Lieberman. Now I point to Josh Marshall's short and to the point post on Lieberman's continuing opposition to the HCR Bill.
What's most telling about Lieberman isn't his positions, which are not that much different from Sen. Nelson's and perhaps Sen. Lincoln's. It's more that he seems to keep upping the ante just when the rest of the caucus thinks they've got a deal.
And that is exactly what is happening now. They had a deal, a deal that everybody had agreed on, a deal that Lieberman told the leadership he accepted. But he wants more. More what? More attention. Why?
Well, lets see, he went all in with McCain last year and lost. Now, if McCain would have won, Lieberman would probably have had a prominent post in his cabinet, but he doesn't. And that makes him angry. But this post is well not about Lieberman.
If Reid and the rest of the Democratic caucus and leadership have not realized that Lieberman is just playing them, all hope is lost.
Reid, Reid can lost the upcoming elections. And he might be gone. But he can leave a lasting legacy. He needs to go NUCLEAR.
What I am talking about is the Nuclear Option.
The nuclear option is used in response to a filibuster or other dilatory tactic. A senator makes a point of order calling for an immediate vote on the measure before the body, outlining what circumstances allow for this. The presiding officer of the Senate, usually the vice president of the United States or the president pro tempore, makes a parliamentary ruling upholding the senator's point of order. The Constitution is cited at this point, since otherwise the presiding officer is bound by precedent. A supporter of the filibuster may challenge the ruling by asking, "Is the decision of the Chair to stand as the judgment of the Senate?" This is referred to as "appealing from the Chair." An opponent of the filibuster will then move to table the appeal. As tabling is non-debatable, a vote is held immediately. A simple majority decides the issue. If the appeal is successfully tabled, then the presiding officer's ruling that the filibuster is unconstitutional is thereby upheld. Thus a simple majority is able to cut off debate, and the Senate moves to a vote on the substantive issue under consideration. The effect of the nuclear option is not limited to the single question under consideration, as it would be in a cloture vote. Rather, the nuclear option effects a change in the operational rules of the Senate, so that the filibuster or dilatory tactic would thereafter be barred by the new precedent.
The purpose of the Filibuster was never to indefinitely delay legislation. Congress's job is to legislate, but if people like Lieberman will stand in the way of it, its time to remove the travesty that is a Filibuster from Congress. Congress can not be held prisoner to one man's mad pursuit of being relevant.
Senator Reid, Go Nuclear, Be strong, Be brave.