Many long time Senators coming around on filibuster reform.
How far we’ve come. This week, the White House endorsed reforming the filibuster and no one batted an eyelash. Of course the president supported filibuster reform, the entire Democratic establishment was already on board!
But just two years ago, senior Democrats were saying things like this: “I’m totally opposed to the idea of changing the filibuster rules. I think that’s foolish.” And: “I’m so vehemently opposed to the ideas to fundamentally change the rules of the Senate.” That was Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who really hated the filibuster, but there were others.
“I think as torturous as this place can be, the cloture rule and the filibuster is important to protect the rights of the minority… My inclination is no,” Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor told The Hill’s Alexander Bolton when asked about reform in 2010.
“I think we should retain the same policies that we have instead of lowering it… I think it has been working,” added Hawaii Democrat Daniel Akaka.
“It’s been 60 for a long, long time. I think we need to look to ourselves more than changing the rules…the bigger problem is getting people to work together,” said Montana Democrat Jon Tester.
“It won’t happen…probably not,” added California Democrat Dianne Feinstein.
Though it’s still unclear if they’ll have the votes, real filibuster reform is now closer to reality than ever. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, the White House, and other top Democrats have come around.
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/30/how_democrats_learned_to_stop_worrying_and_love_filibuster_reform/
