By Quin Hillyer at The Examiner;

The Senate’s famous filibuster, now on the brink of elimination, should be both revived and limited by listening to Democrats on how to reform it.

Not today’s Democrats, of course. The best filibuster reform proposal is a variant of the one proposed in 1995 by moderate Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and liberal firebrand Tom Harkin of Iowa.

To encourage real debate, and to preserve minority-party prerogatives without letting the minority permanently block the majority’s will, Lieberman and Harkin proposed that the number of senators necessary to sustain a filibuster be required to rise with each cloture vote. Or, put another way, that the number needed to end the filibuster drop with each attempt.

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So while the current 60-vote supermajority would be required to close debate on the first attempt, just 57 votes would be required on the next attempt at least two days later, and then 54, and then just 51…..

There are some really interesting permutations here that should satisfy all sides and lead to a better-working Senate. Please read the whole column here.

 

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