It looks more and more likely that the Democrats will use a parliamentary process known as ‘reconciliation’ to pass major healthcare reform in the US Senate.<\/p>\n
In layman’s terms, reconciliation means that a simple majority of Senators have to vote yes. <\/p>\n
You don’t need a 60-vote super-majority. <\/p>\n
As a frequent critic of the Senate’s clubby, dysfunctional and anachronistic weirdness, I think this is a great development.<\/p>\n
It could mark a first death knell for the use of the filibuster, which is a good thing. <\/p>\n
The filibuster isn’t a law or a constitutional protection. It’s a rule that senators created to preserve their own fusty prerogatives.<\/p>\n
But we live in a democracy, ruled by elected lawmakers and not a gang of clubby elites.<\/p>\n
If Republicans want to defeat healthcare, they should mount serious arguments and convince some Democrats to vote against it. <\/p>\n
And if that fails, they have an election in less than a year. They should campaign on the issue, promising to repeal the Democratic Party’s plan.<\/p>\n
Conservative Senator Barry Goldwater did just that in 1964, assuring voters that he would repeal progressive programs, including the New Deal.<\/p>\n
That’s how a healthy republic works.<\/p>\n
Not through gridlock and parliamentary tricks, but by elected leaders putting up serious policy proposals and finding out at the ballot box which ones we want.<\/p>\n
I want to make one thing clear: <\/p>\n
I absolutely think the Republicans should also be allowed to run the Senate with a simple majority when they return to power (and they will).<\/p>\n
When Americans give the GOP a mandate to lead, they should be allowed to do so.<\/p>\n
And then, in turn, it will be up to the Democrats to try to counter them with good and convincing arguments.<\/p>\n
There are big structural problems to the Senate that will likely never be fixed, starting with the fact that different states receive wildly disparate amounts of power per capita. <\/p>\n
But canning the filibuster is something that can change. In the long history of our democracy, it might even be more important than healthcare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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