This Is How We Fix the Senate

Today CWA Local 4108 helped deliver petitions to Sen. Carl Levin's office in Michigan, calling on him to support an end to the "silent filibuster" and other reforms that will restore real debate to the Senate.

It was just one of the many coordinated petition deliveries to Senate office across the country – from California to Ohio to Maryland to Florida. On Capitol Hill, activists from CWA, United Auto Workers, Common Cause and other progressive groups are delivered nearly 1 million constituent petitions, urging senators to co-sponsor and support Senate Resolution 4.

What would the reform package do?

1. Clear Path to Debate: Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Proceed
Makes motions to proceed not subject to a filibuster, but provides two hours of debate.

2. Talking Filibuster: Ensures Real Debate
Creates a “talking filibuster.” If a majority of the Senate votes for cloture, but not the 60 Senators required to invoke it – which means 41 Senators have voted to continue debate – then the majority leader can initiate a period of extended debate. This period ends, and cloture can be invoked by a majority, if at any point no Senator seeks to continue debating. This forces Senators who filibuster to actually speak on the floor, greatly increasing public accountability and requiring time and energy if the minority wants to use this tool to obstruct the Senate.

3. Expedite Nominations: Reduce Post-Cloture Time
Reduces post-cloture debate on nominations to 2 hours, except for Supreme Court Justices (for whom the current 30 hours would remain intact)

4. Restore the Conference Process: Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Establish a Conference Committee
The Senate has to take three steps in order to start the conference committee process: adopt a motion to reject a House amendment or insist on a Senate amendment, adopt a motion to request a conference committee or agree to a request by the House for a conference committee, and, by unanimous consent, authorize the chair to appoint conferees. These steps represent three opportunities to filibuster a bill the Senate has already agreed to. The proposed rules change would establish a single non-divisible motion to accomplish all three steps, and limit debate of the consolidated motion to 2 hours.

The Senate will take up rules reform when it returns to work next week. Text RULESREFORM to 49484 for updates. And follow Fix the Senate Now on Facebook and Twitter.