I’ve come up with an idea to repair the filibuster.
Rule 22 is changed as follows:
- By October the 1st of each election year, the Majority Leader and Minority Leader shall each present up to 10 bills to the Parliamentarian of the Senate.
- The bills are referred to as the "election platform".
- One of the bills can be of any length, the other bills must be under 10 pages.
- In the following Senate, motions for cloture on those bills shall only require a majority of those present and voting.
- Any bill passed by the House that is "substantially identical" to the bill presented will, for a motion of cloture, only require a majority of those present and voting.
- In this way, the elected government can pass its election platform with only a majority of seats.
- The Majority and Minority Leaders shall have the privilege to bring to the floor any bill passed by the House that is "substantially identical" to a bill in the election platform for debate with no possibility of amendment.
Some possible concerns:
- Won’t that mean we have to wait until 2023 to raise the minimum wage / etc.?
- Yes; if you have a faster idea go for it.
- Won’t this make it easier for Mitch McConnell to pass the Republican agenda?
- Theoretically yes; in practice the need to write it into legislation before an election may be a burden for him. Also, any “solution” to the filibuster will allow this during the next Republican trifecta.
- Why should the minority leader be able to bring bills for debate?
- This should decrease objections from senators who are concerned about the “rights of the minority”; if the House majority supports a bill, the Senate minority can try to build a coalition on the Senate floor to support it.
- What does “substantially identical” mean?
- Good question; I assume the senators will figure that out during negotiations.
- In particular, I don’t know if a bill to raise the minimum wage to $12/hour would be “substantially identical” to one raising the minimum wage to $15/hour.