This just in from Ryan Grim, at the Huffington Post:
The Democratic senator from New Jersey announced Wednesday that he would introduce the “Mr. Smith Bill,” which would specifically require the minority to talk out a filibuster, a la Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Once debate ends and no senator requests the
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How could I have missed this? The ultimate master of Senate procedure is now arguing the case:
“Senators are obliged to exercise their best judgment when invoking their right to extended debate,” Byrd said. ” They should also be obliged to actually filibuster — that is, go to the floor and talk, instead of finding less strenuous
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This week, in partnership with CNN, we at TIME are beginning a series of reports on “Broken Government.” It will look at the reasons that it has become so difficult to get anything done in Washington, and some ways we might fix the problem.
Regular readers of Swampland probably have already guessed what solution I’ve …
It’s happened! The first endorsement of our Make Them Filibuster campaign by a current (albeit retiring) member of the United States Senate!
Evan Bayh writes this in today’s New York Times:
For this reason, filibusters should require 35 senators to sign a public petition and make a commitment to continually debate an issue in
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By golly, this is turning into a groundswell! I’m going to need a bigger bandwagon. Harry K. Scwartz delivers the latest endorsement in the Philadelphia Inquirer*:
Michael, per this post, I’d again like to make this argument: The filibuster is not the problem. The filibuster is the solution. If only they made Senators like they used to.
UPDATE: For those of you Swamplanders who want to delve into the geeky details of what it takes to actually conduct a filibuster, here’s a link to a 2003 report …
It’s been quite a week for my Make Them Filibuster campaign. Two high-profile endorsements! First, Governor Ed Rendell and now historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Here’s what she told Jon Stewart last night on the Daily Show:
Let them filibuster. You realize how great they’re going to look, these Republicans, trying not to go to
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My favorite cause seems to have picked up a new spokesman: Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.
We’ll see if the Little Girls of the United States Senate pay him any more attention than they have me. (In addition to the two links above, you can read more of my earlier arguments on this subject here, and here.)
