Filibuster reform faces precarious fate

[Pryderi]

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/03/16322844-filibuster-reform-faces-precarious-fate?lite

There is more than one plan on the table. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.), for example, have put forward the most ambitious reforms, which include the much-discussed "talking filibuster" provision. Late last week, another option emerged when Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) unveiled a severely watered-down plan, which would make very few substantive changes.

Yesterday, Merkley told Greg Sargent that the McCain/Levin plan, which would not address what the Democrat calls the "secret silent filibuster," is simply too weak to support.

[gordianot]

1. With Republican Gerrymandering the Senate could become the last Democratic refuge.

Democrats need to get this right.

[earthside]

2. Could Congress look worse?

Absolutely.

If the U.S. Senate does not pass meaningful filibuster reform and let the majority rule in that body ... well, we'll be right back where we were last year with an obstructionist Repuglican minority doing all it can to wreck the country.

How Carl Levin can team-up with Gramps McCain to try a sabotage Merkley and Udall's proposal is just beyond me.

This reform is of the highest priority for the governance of the nation; if it fails then we are all in for a pack of trouble in the coming months.