George,

We were overjoyed in November 2006 when Democrats won the majority of seats in both the House and the Senate. But recent polls show that the public at large is not pleased with Congress -- they think it is doing just as dreary a job as President Bush. Both Congress and the President have approval ratings around 35 percent. Four months after taking control of Congress, the public sees Democrats as ineffectual -- as making little progress on getting anything done.

The fault lies with the Senate where everything is being held hostage to the fear of the filibuster. Under current practices in the Senate, the Constitution of the United States has essentially been amended to require a 60 vote majority to get anything passed. Nothing is brought up if 41 Senators state that they intend to filibuster. The way to overcome that threat is to have 60 Senators willing to vote for cloture (to end debate). Thus, it takes a supermajority of 60 to move legislation along.

But Harry Reid does not need to allow himself (and the Democratic majority) to be stymied by the Republican minority in this way. Why does he fear an actual filibuster where Senators must take the floor and hold the floor 24 hours a day to show their objection to a bill. Yes, the business of the Senate would be held up until those mounting the filibuster ran out of steam. But the business of the Senate is being held up now by 41 Senators simply saying they INTEND to filibuster.
Democrats aren't getting anything done as it is!

Think of this scenario: The Senate takes up the latest House version of the Iraq funding bill (the one that funds through July and then sees if progress is being made on the benchmarks). The Republicans mount a filibuster -- they take the floor objecting to the funding bill and hold up all Senate business. The public sees day after day that the Republicans are holding up funding for our troops and are the ones blocking all legislation. Let the public see clearly who is preventing progress in Congress.

Harry Reid must lose the fear of the filibuster and let the Republicans self-destruct. And then we will once again have majority rule (51 votes to pass legislation) in the Senate.

- David RePass (Electronic mail, May 16, 2007)