Democrats need to reform the Senate now — before Republicans do
President Obama's legacy may very well hang in the balance
Several recent developments have brought into stark relief the fact that our Senate is a smoking jalopy of an institution that is badly in need of reform, even after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moved to weaken the filibuster several months ago. And if Democrats don't get to it first, then count on Republicans beating them to the punch if they ever manage to wrest control of the government.
First, a banal bipartisan measure in favor of energy efficiency went down to a threatened Republican filibuster because the GOP insisted on stringing a bunch of EPA-crippling amendments to it. Second, when Federal Reserve Board member Jeremy Stein steps down at the end of the month, the board of the world's most important central bank will be down to just three out of seven members. There are three Fed nominations waiting for Senate confirmation, but it could take weeks or months to get to them.
All these failures are due to the janky and anachronistic institutions of the Senate.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Let's start with the filibuster. Here's what went down on the efficiency bill:
So Republicans threatened to filibuster and the bill died. Add one more good idea to the corpse heap of GOP filibusters.
People tend to blame this on some vague idea of "politics," but there's simply no way to get the politics out of our legislature. The operation of the legislative body is practically the definition of politics. No, our problem is crappy, pointless roadblocks that get in the way of the politics.
Senate Democrats weakened the filibuster for nominations, but not for legislation. But at this point there's simply no reason for the filibuster to exist at all, other than to thwart an entire presidential agenda that a minority happens to disagree with. Ditto the "blue slip" rule and the sucking morass of procedural hurdles that eat up time and prevent executive branch nominees from being considered.
A quick up-or-down vote works for nearly every other democratic institution in the entire world. It will work for the Senate. And it's flat-out embarrassing to have our most powerful economic committee less than half-filled due to anti-democratic obstructionism.
Time is running out for this administration. If the Republicans take the Senate in the midterm elections (a distinct possibility), then that will probably be the end of confirming anyone but reactionaries until 2016 at the earliest. President Obama's inexplicably lax attention to the federal bureaucracy is possibly his single greatest weakness, and it is clearly threatening his legacy.
As Jamelle Bouie details in a sharp post today, Republicans will almost certainly sweep aside whatever precedent stands between them and stacking every open lifetime appointment with the most radically conservative twenty-somethings they can scrounge up. The blue slip rule, which enables a single senator to hold up a nomination, has been repeatedly abused by conservatives, resulting in Obama nominating the conservative Michael Boggs to a federal court. Here's Bouie:
In reality, the Senate's vaunted traditions are already near death. The question is who will kill them off first. The Democrats should get it over with, and get a bit of desperately needed governing done in the process.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Stick guitar
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'Sports executives ushered a fox into the henhouse'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Xi-Biden meeting: what's in it for both leaders?
Today's Big Question Two superpowers seek to stabilise relations amid global turmoil but core issues of security, trade and Taiwan remain
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published