Udall Is Forcing Filibuster Issue on Senate Agenda

WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Udall’s long-standing effort to blunt the impact of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate appears headed for a degree of success, but it also looks like the heart of his proposal will fail.

Let me explain.

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois, whose job is counting votes, told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call on Wednesday that there is insufficient Senate support for Udall’s proposed “talking filibuster” that would force senators who object to legislation to take the floor and speak — possibly for hours, or even days.

“I would say, at this point, the talking filibuster does not have 51 votes,” Roll Call reported Durbin as saying Wednesday.

That’s bad news for Udall. Really bad news, actually, because the New Mexico senator has repeatedly said that the talking filibuster is the very heart of his effort to reform the Senate’s rules in a way that he says would make the chamber operate more efficiently. But there is a silver lining for Udall.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he was still “cautiously optimistic” he could reach a compromise with Republicans on some kind of rules reform that would make it more difficult for the minority party to kill legislation simply by wielding the threat of a filibuster. If Democrats and Republicans can’t agree, Reid said Senate rules reform will happen anyway. That’s because Democrats have a majority in the chamber.

“If we don’t agree then we’re going to do something as a Democratic caucus alone,” Reid said.

If that happens, Udall can still take credit for forcing the issue to the forefront of the Senate agenda. This is the second consecutive Congress in which Udall has aimed to overhaul the Senate’s operating procedures as a way to blunt the impact of the filibuster — or threat of endless debate to kill legislation. His effort failed in the last Congress, but his proposals have gained steam in the two years since.

Udall has spent the past several weeks working the phones and meeting with senators in person to drum up support for the talking filibuster. Many of the chamber’s younger Democrats, including Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., wholeheartedly support Udall’s proposal. But more than a few of the older Democrats, especially those who remember toiling in the minority in earlier Congresses, want to preserve current rules in case their party slips out of power.

“Where we are today marks significant progress, but I continue to advocate for the heart of our reform proposal, the talking filibuster,” Udall said late Wednesday. “…We shouldn’t do away with the filibuster, but there must be some burden placed on senators who choose to use it.”
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal