Even though judicial nominee Goodwin Liu received the support of a majority of senators today, he will not yet be confirmed to the bench because over 40 Republicans joined in a filibuster to stop his confirmation. This is a good time to remember that a mere six years ago, most Senate Republicans thought it unacceptable [...]

While there seems to be some growing intellectual consensus in support of slightly reforming Senate rules to modestly reduce obstructionism, the idea of returning the Senate to its original intent of a majority rule chamber is still labeled too radical. In reality there is nothing radical about merely bringing back the original Senate rule that [...]

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) is trying to gain support for a modest proposal to change Senate rules to deal with the issue of filibuster support by proxy. The current arrangement allows Senators to support a filibuster even while on a tropical vacation. The rules regarding cloture in the Senate are unlike almost any other rules [...]

The Senate is run on precedent as much as it is governed by its official rules. Precedents will sometimes almost directly contradict the actual rules but the precedents actually govern the behavior of the chamber. In fact, using a ruling from the chair upheld by a simple majority, the Senate can set a precedent that [...]

It is intolerable to hear senators go on about the importance and traditions of their chamber when they seem to not understand or to willfully ignore both. The latest example is Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) defending the 60-vote threshold for cloture (put in place roughly 40 years ago) by essentially citing made-up history about Congress. [...]

Radical conservatives in the Senate are contributing to unemployment in their own novel way: They are so devoted to blocking action that they extend it even to filling relatively low-level government jobs. They want to prove that government can’t work, by stopping it from working. They’re dedicated to ruining it as part of their nihilistic, self-fulfilling anti-government prophesies.

Many reports on the late Robert Byrd’s long career as a US Senator are pointing out that Byrd literally wrote the book on Senate rules and history. And while it is true that Byrd did write the quintessential four-part history of the chamber, his real importance comes from the fact that it was Byrd himself [...]

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) has a new article in the Huffington Post calling for reforming the filibuster. I’m always glad to hear that more senators realize the Senate rules are broken and need to be changed. At the same time, I’m a little disappointed that Bennet does not just call for restoring the Senate to [...]

The New York Times editorial page is now basically demanding that the House of Representatives effectively give up their constitutional rights and powers. No longer will they be the writer of laws and originator of all bills dealing with taxes, like the founders intended, but instead they should serve only as a rubber stamp for [...]

Politico is reporting that Harry Reid plans to publicly unveil the merged Senate health care reform bill tomorrow afternoon (Correction: the bill will be unveiled tonight). After months of waiting, and endless delays, we will finally see the health care reform bill that will be brought to the Senate floor. (Dayen has some details about provisions [...]