Hillarysworld

ONPOLITICS

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Byrd: Keep the filibuster, but make 'em talk ... and talk ... and talk

Feb 24, 2010  12:09 PM

We've already told you that some Democrats are so fed up with having President Obama's legislation blocked in the Senate, despite their party's wide majority in the chamber, that they're calling for an end to that most peculiar of Senate institutions, the filibuster.

Now, the Senate's most venerable Democrat is taking the other side of the argument.

In a letter to colleagues, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., calls efforts to water down or eliminate the filibuster "grossly misguided."

While describing himself as "sympathetic to frustrations with the Senate's rules," the self-appointed guardian of Senate lore and tradition defended the filibuster as a device designed to force lawmakers to take a long, slow look at legislation before passing it.

[snip]

Byrd does offer one idea for ending what he calls the "abuse" of the filibuster.

Essentially, a filibuster is an effort to talk a bill or nomination to death. Senators can talk as long as they want about anything they want unless 60 of the chamber's 100 members vote to end debate and move to a vote.

But today, no one ever has to mount a marathon talk-a-thon like the one that Jimmy Stewart made famous in the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The mere threat of a filibuster is enough to make Senate leaders rejuggle their calendars and move on to other, less controversial bills.

Byrd is calling for a return to the old-fashioned filibuster. Those who want to block legislation "should be obliged to go to the floor and talk, instead of finding less strenuous ways to accomplish the same end."

More . . .

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Got to love this guy! 

Very smart. 

Yes, it is true. Lately when they filibuster, it is not obvious. By forcing them to talk, their silly talk will get on YouTube and it will show the world what they are doing.


-- Edited by Sanders on Wednesday 24th of February 2010 03:33:28 PM