Dodd Tells Senate Freshmen Not to Reform Senate Filibuster

[defendandprotect]

Memo to Chris Dodd: We already have a unicameral legislature
by: Chris Bowers Wed Aug 04, 2010 at 17:00

Before he leaves the Senate, Chris Dodd is waging a rearguard effort to try and prevent Democrats from changing the cloture vote threshold next year. Ryan Grim:

1. First, if Dodd is making speeches in favor of keeping the cloture vote threshold at 60, that shows there is a lot of momentum for lowering the threshold. Second, his argument in favor of keeping the threshold at 60 is nonsensical:


"I made a case last night to about ten freshman senators, you know, you want to turn this into a unicameral body? What's the point of having a Senate? If the vote margins are the same as in the House, you might as well close the doors," Dodd told reporters in the Capitol.
Ridiculous. Just nonsense. You don't need different vote thresholds to have a bicameral system. Consider:


36 states have bicameral legislatures where no filibuster is allowed. Would Senator Dodd claim those 36 states do not actually have a bicameral system?

2. The 60-vote threshold is not in the Constitution. It just isn't. That was never a requirement for a bicameral legislature.

3. If anything, the 60-vote threshold has created a unicameral system where the Senate has rendered the House irrelevant. Getting rid of the 60-vote threshold would give the two legislative bodies more equitable power.

Frustrating as argument like Dodd's are, expect a lot more of it over the next five months. Also, expect more articles, such as the one in The Hill last week, where a few Democratic Senators express opposition to lowering the threshold, and thus effort is thus declared DOA.

We are going to have to work to change the narrative on this fight. If, for example, we could get four of five Democratic Senators to favor lowering the cloture threshold even if Republicans controlled the Senate ......


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