Word: filibusterer
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These proposals’ prospects vary widely. Both of Lessig’s are subject to supermajority requirements in the Senate–67 votes for an amendment, and 60 to break a filibuster on public financing–where minority leader Mitch McConnell has been a staunch opponent of...
These are all valid criticisms, but they fail to capture the real source of Americans’ frustration. Whatever the bad rap on Obama and the Democrats, were it not for the filibuster and lock-step Republican opposition, the President would have emerged from his first year in office with...
To be sure, the filibuster is not, in principle, a bad idea. In an era of hyper-partisanship and 24-hour news cycles, even a legislative body as inherently deliberative as the Senate is in need of some sort of braking mechanism, for when those built into a system of...
However, the minority is abusing it to stymie every legislative initiative without ever allowing an up-or-down vote on the merits. Republicans flat out refuse to play ball. The filibuster becomes a rallying point for the minority whose remaining moderates are under house arrest. Feeling its extraordinary power, the...
Ever since Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts Senate race deprived Senate Democrats of their filibuster-proof majority, the White House has made no secret of its fervent desire that majority leader Harry Reid pass some kind of bipartisan legislation. So it was with a bit of fanfare that...