I’ve been pondering what should be done about the new pattern of Senate Republicans demanding cloture votes on almost every item of substance, thereby creating that need for a 60 vote majority. Last night Rachel Maddow did a piece on the subject that included a graph (which I’d love to get my hands on) showing the number of cloture votes in the last two years. They’ve skyrocketed, more than twice the number in any previous Senate term.
Setting aside the hypocrisy of this (remember up-er-down votes and the "nuclear option"?), what can be done? Senate rules once required a filibuster to actually play out on the floor, leading to the wild scenes where people stood on the Senate floor reading aloud from the phone book in the dead of night. But that rule was changed so that now the measure is simply set aside until there are 60 votes to end debate.
So, I thought, make them go back to standing on the Senate floor reading the phone book if they want to filibuster. In a diary last week (Make Them Read the F*@$ing Phone Book!) I threw that idea out for discussion. But there are a couple of problems with it.
First, it would give the Senate Republicans the microphone indefinitely to spew forth their nonsense, maybe not such a good idea. Secondly, making that rule change would require 2/3 of Senators voting, not likely in the current environment.
But in researching the subject I found this on Wikipedia
A filibuster can be defeated by the governing party if they leave the debated issue on the agenda indefinitely, without adding anything else. Strom Thurmond's attempt to filibuster the Civil Rights Act was defeated when Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield refused to refer any further business to the Senate, which required the filibuster to be kept up indefinitely. Instead, the opponents were all given a chance to speak and the matter eventually was forced to a vote.
Which gave me an idea. Why not this? When a bill comes up that the Republicans want to filibuster, freeze the agenda and move nothing else to the floor until there is a vote. At the same time, let the Democrats display their oratory skills explaining at length why the bill is necessary. The Anti-fillibuster. Eventually, with nothing else happening, the Republicans would be forced to bend. And certainly they would be very slow to let such spectacles play out.
Of course this requires Harry Reid to be willing to play hardball, a game he seems not to like. He seems to prefer softball. But enough I say of this 60 vote folly. In times like this the business of the Country needs to move forward and Mitch McConnell needs to be put in his place.