Chris Dodd Can Break Through Insider-itis

by: Matt Stoller

Thu Oct 18, 2007 at 11:26


It's become clear that under the curernt system of Calvinball for Republicans, parliamentary procedure is simply artifice.  I never heard of motions to recommit until the Democrats took the House; all I heard, from high level officials even, was how the Republicans had the majority and that was all that mattered.  If Democrats won, liberals would have committee chairmanships and the Speaker's gavel, and be able to set the agenda.  Yet, now we frequently hear the words 'motion to recommit', which is apparently a new and fearsome procedural roadblocks to Democratic efforts to pass legislation.  Something similar is true in the Senate, where it now suddenly takes 60 votes to pass anything, though it did not prior to 2007. 

The rules are simply a crutch for members who don't want to pass good laws and don't want to stop bad ones.  The question is not about rules, but about how willing members are to make it uncomfortable for other members they have to see every day.  That's why Here's Atrios has a good suggestion for Chris Dodd and the telecom bill.

[Dodd] can put a hold on this, and then take the case to the public. I don't know why Democrats think they need to stand with Mr. 24%, but it's time for other Democrats to make them defend why they feel the need to do so.There's a kind of "everything is a behind closed doors deal" from which a compromise emerges dynamic, which is fine when it achieves something but not fine when it fails.

Dodd would infuriate some of his colleagues in the Senate, and they would retaliate.  But over time, as other liberals stepped up and used these procedures in very high profile ways, the culture of institution would change to one more conducive to civil liberties.

Dodd should do this.
Matt Stoller :: Chris Dodd Can Break Through Insider-itis

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Chris Dodd Can Break Through Insider-itis | 4 comments
Bingo (0.00 / 0)
The question is not about rules, but about how willing members are to make it uncomfortable for other members they have to see every day.

This seems right on to me. Basically there's a culture of "caution" (as Mike puts it) that looks more and more like a culture of cowardice and conformity. All the outside activism in the world can't change that until someone on the inside makes a break and provides the opening.

But that'll mean breaking the social rules, which will have a personal cost for that individual. To my mind that's what "public service" is about, but at this point I'm not going to get my hopes up that someone who's spent 20+ years inside this social organism is going to have the moral fortitude to violate its tribal rules.

Me | My Work | Future Majority

Well, well... (0.00 / 0)
I never heard of motions to recommit until the Democrats took the House...

I knew you loved my stuff. ;)

Seriously - the problem with the Dodd hold is that (my guess - nothing beats an actual whip count) cloture on the Rockefeller bill would pass by a mile (opposed by only the two dozen stalwarts who vote for Feingold censure resolutions and the like).

It's true that a hold would bar the sort of 60 vote shootout that we've been seeing recently - that needs unanimous consent. And time is not exactly in abundance right now.

But the holdup (!) shouldn't take too long.

And I'd be skeptical about tales of getting close to beating cloture: the experience of the Alito cloture (remember Durbin saying he'd got 33 (or something close)? - where, essentially, the guys on top of the two dozen regulars were saying, Of course, if you're just one short, I won't let you down.

Being #29 on the list has fewer attractions!

I am waiting .. (4.00 / 1)
for someone other than Feingold to step up and do the right thing .. place a hold on this bill .. become good at the parliamentary manuevers that the Rethugs use .. but that the Dem leadership either doesn't use .. or doesn't even have a clue about .. why does the Dem leadership always bring a butter knife to a gun fight?
Good on Dodd (4.00 / 1)


John McCain is dishonest
Chris Dodd Can Break Through Insider-itis | 4 comments
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