Once used by the minority party to object to legislation it strenuously disagreed with, the practice of using the filibuster to routinely stall and delay bills proposed by the majority party has increased exponentially in recent years.
Two items on President Obama’s second-term agenda–immigration and climate change–would both be the law of the land right now were it not for the filibuster. Both measures passed the House of Representatives and had a majority of support in the US Senate, but not enough to overcome the 60-vote “super majority” needed in today’s Senate.
Democrats have pledged to tackle filibuster reform at the beginning of the next Congress and are mulling the use of the so-called “nuclear option” as a means of achieving it. On Thursday, the main architect of the reform effort, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), stopped by the show to talk about his efforts.
After making calls to Democratic senators Thursday, NOW estimates Merkley’s plan to re-institute the “talking filibuster” –the idea that you actually have to stand on the Senate floor and speak in order to delay legislation–has the support of 48 Democratic senators, three votes shy of the 51-vote majority needed to implement reform using the nuclear option.
Those Democrats who are yet to get behind Merkley’s effort are: Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Carl Levin (D-MI), Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Jack Reed (D-RI).








