tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post4819100253391866499..comments2024-03-02T09:41:35.809-08:00Comments on Donkeylicious - A Blog by Neil Sinhababu and Nicholas Beaudrot: You Come At The Senate Minority Leader, You Best Not MissNeil Sinhababuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03249327186653397250noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-65682254960485524072012-12-02T23:33:57.803-08:002012-12-02T23:33:57.803-08:00"any attempt to curtail minority power that i..."any attempt to curtail minority power that is deemed inappropriate by the minority will be met with maximum possible intransigence"<br /><br />As opposed to?<br /><br />If the minority was not at present deploying what at one time would have passed for maximum possible intransigence, that would be a more credible threat.BruceMcFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08502035881761277885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-76682183609093343132012-11-30T09:59:57.082-08:002012-11-30T09:59:57.082-08:00"So either Reid can come up with a set of ref..."So either Reid can come up with a set of reforms that Mitch McConnell considers acceptable and will not result in vigorous resistance, or he goes all the way and effectively shuts out the minority entirely."<br /><br />I disagree. If there weren't a host of other procedural tools that could tie up the Senate in knots, something like Merkley's requirement that 20 members of the minority be present at all times to sustain a filibuster wouldn't shut out the minority entirely, but it would keep the minority from tying up the Senate in knots whenever they were in the mood.<br /><br />The problem is that the filibuster and its close relatives are not the only means of using Senate rules to shut down the Senate. If Reid wants to do serious filibuster reform, he's got to go through the Senate rulebook and remove every other rule (e.g. forcing bills to be read aloud) that the minority can use to keep just about anything from getting done.<br /><br />Barring that, I think Reid should settle for (a) making the motion to proceed non-filibusterable, and (b) reducing post-cloture debate to an hour for each party. Mitch could still throw a hissy fit, but even the Villagers would wonder what the hell he was complaining about. And it would move the ball forward at least somewhat.<br /><br />-low-tech cyclistAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3401584991689197404.post-69638187300286651892012-11-30T01:45:10.299-08:002012-11-30T01:45:10.299-08:00Love having political analysis by The Wire charact...Love having political analysis by The Wire characters.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04782915133976227008noreply@blogger.com