Make Them Actually Filibuster

Dear Friends,

Today the Republicans in the Senate with the help of Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska who for some reason still calls himself a Democrat prevented the Wall Street reform bill from even being debated on the Senate floor.  Here is The New York Times article about it.

There are a couple of amazing things about this story.  The first is to listen to the Republicans.  Senator McConnell in his speech on the floor of the Senate claims that if debate of the bill is permitted on the Senate floor it will stop the Senators from listening to the American people, and it will prevent a bipartisan bill from emerging.  His logic is beyond incomprehensible.  I am in awe of the ability of a person who must be intelligent to say this stuff with a straight face. 

Let there be no doubt.  The Republicans do not want any Wall Street reform bill that actually contains reform, and they certainly do not want to have the American public listen to and see the amendments that they would like to propose to kill even the modest reform in the Dodd bill that is pending in the Senate.

As usual the "Daily Kos" put it very succinctly (here):

As further proof, here's Mitch McConnell actually saying that allowing the debate to go forward on the Senate floors means an end to public debate on the issue. Literally. "A vote for cloture is a vote that says we’re done listening to the American people on this issue." Open debate, live on C-SPAN in front of God and everybody, means the end to the debate on Wall Street reform. They don't want to offer their amendments in public, because they don't want the American people to see their work on behalf of Wall Street.

You can follow the Mitch McConnell link above for a great story, but if you do not have time, here is a part of Senator McConnell's speech as well as part of Senator Reid's speech.



The second thing that I find fascinating about what happened today is that there does not appear to be any discussion among Democrats or the pundits about actually making the Republicans filibuster.  Yes that is right, I mean actually getting up on the floor of the Senate and talking hour after hour in order to prevent the Senate from doing anything. 

If the Republicans are going to threaten to filibuster every major piece of legislation which they have been doing lately, then the Democrats should make them actually filibuster.  With almost two-thirds of American voters in favor of Wall Street reform what could be better for the Democrats than having the news every night showing the Republicans filibustering so that Wall Street reform cannot even be debated.  I think that would be good for the country and good politics for the Democrats, but they never ask me.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal