Rep Peter DeFazio: Dem Senators considering the "nuclear option"?

[sabra]

http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/06/defazio-dem-sen.html

<snip>
On Friday, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) appeared on The Young Turks, telling host Cenk Uygur that Senate Democrats may be considering the nuclear option against the obstructionist Republicans:


Cenk Uygur: Is that real? Is that being discussed within the Democratic Party?

Pete DeFazio: Well, I would hope. I don't understand Senate culture. You know, it's a different world over there. But I have friends over there who have that position. You know, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, and you know, other progressives who are over there, and I think it is real. I think if we get a Democratic President, we got a good majority in the House, we're working with a Democratic President...sending him bills, and there's, you know, say 41 or 42 Republicans who are blocking all our bills, I think you would find at that point that there would be, you know, that they may well push through, change the rules, and say look, "We're going to have a majority rule placed here for change. 51 votes wins all."

Cenk Uygur: So, the Democratic Senators are considering a nuclear option in that scenario?

Pete DeFazio: I believe they are, but I'm not privy to the highest councils over there.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

1. Love deFazio

He is a genuine human being, and a tenacious progressive. I feel honored to have him represent Oregon.

[anitar1]

5. I'm with you, Petrus. I am proud to have DeFazio as my

Congressman. He walks the walk every time. Great voting record,plus he hasn't taken a raise for years. he uses the money to pay for job training for unemployed timber workers ect.edit for spelling.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Fly in the Ointment.

What makes you think Lieberman will be the fifty-first vote, short of taking him into a cloak room and threatening his safety?

[napi21]

3. If he's talking about the nuke option the same as the Pubs were,

it wouldn't matter. A real fillabuster would simply stop any votes!

[Igel]

6. It's not.

What's he's apparently saying is that they'd restrict debate: 51/100 would be sufficient for cloture, quashing fillibusters. I can understand that on confirmation votes, where there are no amendments and so the need for debate is limited--you give everybody a chance to speak, by the time 100 have spoken there's little new that's going to come out, and nothing's going to make anything else relevant. Confirmation votes are a step away from procedural votes, and those usually have lower cloture requirements (and some kinds of votes cannot be debated at all). I don't like the idea of limiting debate for confirmation votes, but I can at least understand it and see how it's not a completely unreasonable idea.

That was the repubs' "nuclear option."

But to limit debate on normal bills guts one of the primary purposes of parliamentary procedure: To ensure that minorities on a committee get a chance to speak. This has as a consequence that actions that a sufficiently large minority considers worth going to the mat over can be blocked. That "going to the mat" has become routine is a problem; however there are usually ways around that, called "bargaining", "arm-twisting", and "negotiating". It's something I'm against; I like the idea of a minority blocking legislation--it raises the bar on some issues (but I think the process is abused these days), but can never allow a minority to pass legislation that the majority doesn't like. So it's a limit on majoritarianism, a kind of system I loathe. But limiting debate, even after ample time is given, will also be abused, which will further majoritarianism (which is a kind of system I still loathe and therefore don't want to see enabled, even these many letters later).

I can understand why De Fazio never actually says it's under discussion. He hopes it is, suspects it is, knows people who are "progressive" (and "democratic" in the sense "majoritarian", apparently, but not "liberal" in any traditional sense). But he doesn't say "yes, it is". That, at least, gives me hope.

[VP505]

4. Using the Nuclear Option

doesn't sound like a good idea to me, I think they could get a better result by requiring those who want to filibuster to do so the old fashioned way. Let then stand up there and read the phone book or whatever, keep them in season all night and on weekends whatever it takes. I am willing to bet if it cut into their off time the Reptilians would whine, cry, bitch and moan and then end it real quick.