650 bipartisan bills are stuck in the Senate and 2 senators have a plan to free them
WASHINGTON, DC: Two senators from opposite sides of the aisle have teamed up to propose major changes to Senate rules aimed at speeding up the chamber.
Sens Steve Daines (R-Mont) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore) argue that some reforms are needed to restore bipartisanship in the Senate and bring a slow-moving chamber up to speed.
The key change that the senators are demanding is lifting the filibuster to ease the clearing of resolutions.
Bipartisan senators want filibuster removed
The two senators expressed their opinion about the slow-moving Senate and the need of the hour in an opinion piece written in The Washington Post published on Thursday, October 8.
“Both our parties have been hamstrung by the Senate’s tangled rules,” they wrote. “The world isn’t waiting for the Senate. Technology and the global economy are changing faster than ever before. The Senate needs to be able to keep up to legislate effectively.”
They argued that their colleagues are misusing certain rules by dragging out floor consideration of even routine or robustly bipartisan bills for days so that they can gain leverage for the issues they want to raise or resolutions they want to get approved.
Instead of a majority of 51 votes, the filibuster rule makes it mandatory to get 60 votes to clear certain bills.
Why the senators say cloture is being abused
“Cloture was created in 1917 as a tool for the Senate to end filibusters and start voting. But the 60-threshold generally required for a cloture motion to pass is now deliberately abused to slow down the legislative process and delay voting on big issues,” Daines and Merkley wrote.
They are demanding the elimination of cloture votes for “routine business” such as nominations, amendments and motions to proceed to business on the floor.
Besides the elimination of cloture votes for certain bills, they also want the concept of “intervening day” to be removed. Intervening day is a full calender day that is required to pass between when a cloture motion is first filed and when the Senate votes on it.
Another demand is to shrink the “post-cloture” time. Right now, even after the Senate votes to end debate on an important bill, senators can still have to wait up to 30 hours before holding the final vote.
Daines and Merkley want to reduce that waiting period so the Senate can vote on bills faster.
Fast track proposed for 650 stalled bipartisan bills
They also want to make it easier for bills that have support from both Republicans and Democrats to reach the Senate floor.
More than 650 bipartisan bills have already passed through Senate committees but have not reached the full Senate for a vote because of the time-consuming rules.
Under the proposed system, if both Republicans and Democrats in a committee strongly support a bill, it could get a faster vote in the full Senate.
Instead of going through the usual lengthy process, the Senate would debate the bill for six hours and then vote on it with a simple majority.
Doing so would require the bill’s supporters to gather the signatures of 16 senators on a petition.
Daines and Merkley say there should also be a two-day fast track for bipartisan spending bills.
Spending bills would get 20 amendments
Under the proposed fast-track process, spending bills would come with 20 relevant amendments, with 10 from Republicans and 10 from Democrats. Each amendment would be limited to five minutes of debate.
They argued that the Senate has already “recognized the need for fast-track procedures” by using expedited floor procedures several times this Congress to repeal executive branch-imposed rules under the Congressional Review Act and to pass major legislation through the budget reconciliation process.
“For too long, the Senate has been stuck in the muck. Our bipartisan plan will get it moving by letting senators debate, negotiate and legislate again so we can deliver for the American people,” they wrote.
