Democrats to Force GOP to Use the F-word

It appears that Monday, July 16 was the day the Democratic finally grew a spine. After weeks of being stymied in legislative drubbings at the hands of Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided the better course of action is to force Republicans to filibuster bills to which they are opposed, rather than letting the GOP deny "up-or-down" votes through obscure parliamentary procedures. Liberal activists have been fretting for weeks that Democrats were refusing to stand up to Republican "obstructionists" in the Senate, where the GOP has killed nearly every ambitious piece of legislation offered:

Americans elected a new Congress to get things done. But the conservative
minority has chosen a strategy of obstruction in the Senate. They have used the
threat of a filibuster to delay or block virtually every major initiative. Bills
with majority support—raising the minimum wage, ethics reform, a date to remove
troops from Iraq, revoking oil subsidies and putting the money into renewable
energy, fulfilling the 9/11 commission recommendations on homeland security—get
blocked because they can’t garner 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

The recent "Webb amendment," for example, which sought to guarantee soldiers a 1:1 active duty-to-vacation ratio, failed when Senators could not muster the 60 votes needed to end debate on the matter. This was presented in the media as if the bill had failed, when in fact it garned 56 votes in favor, a strong majority thwarted only by the Republican collusion and the arcane rules of the Senate.


So today, Harry Reid decided enough was enough. He has vowed to keep the Senate in session round-the-clock until the Republicans allow these votes to move forward:

In making this move (based on my understanding of Senate rules), Reid is
invoking the provisions of Rule 22 (Precedence of Motions) of the Standing Rules
of the Senate, which provides, at the Majority Leader's discretion, up to 30
hours of debate if a filibuster is initiated -- as the Republicans will most
certainly do, knowing that Reed-Levin may very well have the 51 votes needed for
passage.


Sixty votes are needed to achieve cloture (end debate) and move legislation
to a full, deciding vote.


Reid will be using the provision of Rule 22 that allows for up to 30 hours
of continuous debate once it's made clear -- in this case, by Republicans trying
to avoid an up-or-down vote on Reed-Levin -- that there is a desire to continue
debating the issue.


In other words, the Majority Leader is saying "You want to debate? We'll
stay all night and debate."