Volume 70, Issue #3 | Fall 2010

Check out this list to see just how the Senate rules block a majority of senators from taking up important measures and getting the people?s business done. Unanimous consent. All 100 senators must agree that the business of the Senate will go forward. One senator can stop bills, nominations, appointments, even ordinary actions like naming a post office.

The current Senate rules haven?t been changed for decades. They just don?t work in today?s super-charged political climate. In past years, our nation was able to move forward on landmark legislation that put in place workers? rights, civil rights, retirement security for seniors and so much more. Today, we only see outrageous obstruction, like this:

For workers, the minority?s ability (40 votes) to endlessly block key nominations made by the Obama administration has a real cost. Even without this abuse of the rules by the minority, workers fighting for economic justice must wait much too long under the National Labor Relations Board process to get their jobs back after being wrongly fired or to finally get a union voice.

The Senate has been called ?the world?s greatest deliberative body.? Today, it barely functions. That?s a sharp contrast from what the Founding Fathers intended. When they drafted the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison were determined to avoid the paralysis of the ?supermajority? requirements contained in the Articles of Confederation.

Obstruction tactic No. 1?Endless Debate The word ?debate? does not mean much in the United States Senate. Rather than being a free exchange of ideas intended to convince other senators of one position or another, most Senate debate time is occupied by senators giving closely vetted speeches to an almost-entirely empty chamber. Nevertheless, the Senate rules make it very difficult to stop the serial speeches and actually hold a vote. Unless at least 60 senators agree to hold a vote, the speeches go on forever.