Senate will remain dysfunctional until we get rid of the filibuster
January 28, 2018 - 9:00 pm
There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution about the Senate filibuster. It is simply a rule adopted by the Senate — which, in my opinion, thinks it is the House of Lords — to make it difficult to change the status quo. Everyone knows that if the Democrats regain control of the Senate, they will abolish it.
The Senate is supposed to operate under Robert’s Rules of Order, commonly known as parliamentary procedure, which strictly forbids filibusters. The Republicans were able to barely pass the tax reform bill by using reconciliation, but that is allowed only once in a fiscal year. It will be almost impossible to get anything done in the future in today’s political climate unless this ridiculous and unconstitutional (in the sense that there is nothing in the Constitution about it) rule be abolished.