tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post5427960853605757981..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Is 51 the New 67?Jonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-17399839880875589972010-07-28T10:45:15.802-05:002010-07-28T10:45:15.802-05:00Backbencher,
I don't think there's anythi...Backbencher,<br /><br />I don't think there's anything magical or special about 60 as the number, so I have no problem with changing it...but also no problem with it staying as is. One thing to remember is that we're very focused on 60 because the Dems happen to be around that number in this Congress, but that's pretty unusual. <br /><br />If I were advising Dems, I'd say to threaten changing the number for cloture, but trade it off for these other things.Jonathan Bernsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-47718116896812099642010-07-27T21:50:04.797-05:002010-07-27T21:50:04.797-05:00Would you also be in favor a reduced number of vot...Would you also be in favor a reduced number of votes needed for cloture?Backbencherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12698041779179105447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-23575625190668531022010-07-27T16:11:09.334-05:002010-07-27T16:11:09.334-05:00That's a feature, not a bug. You could load u...That's a feature, not a bug. You could load up whatever you wanted into it. If your majority was big enough, or unified enough, you could get your whole agenda through, and that's fine with me. On the other hand, if you have 52 Senators and several controversial bills, well, you probably won't be able to pass them all together, and you'll have to make choices. That's fine with me, too. (And of course whatever you do has to survive the House, which might have somewhat different preferences).<br /><br />It's worth noting that the ability of the minority party to propose amendments and get them adopted with a simple minority is another real constraint. <br /><br />I'm willing to speculate that the availability of a Leadership Bill -- Superbill! -- might tend to push the minority party to be less likely to filibuster relatively noncontroversial bills. With the majority having the option of sticking something onto Superbill! and passing it, it might make more sense to let it come to the Senate floor under regular order and hope to amend it. But of course one of the hazards of any reform is that it's hard to game this stuff out in advance.Jonathan Bernsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-65097149196477070342010-07-27T15:38:33.077-05:002010-07-27T15:38:33.077-05:00It seems to me the Superbill could easily be abuse...It seems to me the Superbill could easily be abused by having legislators lump what under normal circumstances would be many bills into a single bill.Kylopodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06932528611103718373noreply@blogger.com