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Reid nixes filibuster reform effort

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday dismissed an effort by some Democrats to eliminate the filibuster, saying the chamber's procedures were designed to prevent the majority party from unilaterally changing the rules.

Minutes before a pair of colleagues formally unveiled their proposal to eliminate filibusters, Reid told reporters he adhered to the long-standing Senate rule that only a two-thirds majority could change the chamber's rules. This high hurdle -- established decades ago in an effort to prevent a party with a simple majority from ruling the chamber with an iron fist -- would require eight Republicans to join the 59 members of the Democratic caucus to alter the rules, something Reid said is not going to happen.

"I'm totally familiar with his idea," Reid said of the latest filibuster-reform resolution, from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). "It takes 67 votes, and that, kind of, answers the question."

Later, Harkin and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced their resolution that would change the Senate procedure -- officially amending what is known as Rule 22, outlining the requirements to choke off a filibuster -- to allow a four-step process that would eventually allow a majority of just 51 votes to end debate and move to final passage of a bill. The first such vote, known as a cloture motion, would require 60 votes; if that failed, the next cloture motion on the same legislation would require 57 votes and then, if that failed, the next hurdle would require 54 votes, and the next would require 51.

"In the 71 years since Hollywood filmed 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', the aim of the filibuster has been turned completely upside down," Harkin said.

The number of cloture motions the majority has to file has risen by sharply in the past 15 years, by about 75 percent, according to Harkin's estimate. With more than 40 cloture votes so far since the start of the 111th Congress in January 2009, this Senate is on pace to record the second-largest number of filibuster roll calls ever.

Democrats complain that Republicans have forced Reid to file for cloture on non-controversial items and nominations. Harkin noted that last year Republicans forced cloture votes on a bill to extend unemployment benefits, then ultimately agreed to approve the bill on a 98-0 vote.

Republicans, who tried to rein in filibusters when they were in the majority in 2005, have no intention of supporting any such effort this time around. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recently told The Post that the GOP effort five years ago was "dumb idea."

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a freshman, has introduced a more radical rule change along the lines of that proposed by Republicans in 2005. Called the "Constitutional Open," it would call for the Democrat presiding over the Senate -- presumably Vice President Biden at the start of the next Congress in January -- to declare that the Senate is not a "continuing body" and does not have to abide by the rules passed decades ago, that it can on a simple majority vote approve its own new package of rules.

Inside the Senate, this is sometimes called "the nuclear option", because it would so tear away at the framework of the Senate for the last 150 years. If any majority party executes this device, the minority is likely to retaliate with weeks and months of other parliamentary delay tactics.

In his answer to reporters' questions, Reid indicated he did not believe Udall's approach was correct. He said "the rule change" would take 67 votes, reaffirming his previous position in 2005, when Reid fiercely defended the minority's right to filibuster and argued that the Senate was bound by its past rules until the supermajority acted to change them.

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