Filibuster reform: Best explanation I've seen of Harry's ultimatum.
Email I just received from Daily Kos....
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has sent an ultimatum to Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, giving McConnell until Thursday to agree to a watered down filibuster reform package. The idea is that Reid and McConnell would jointly pass a few small-bore reforms with overwhelming bipartisan support.
However, if McConnell does not agree to the watered down package of reforms, then Sen. Reid has threatened to pass a much stronger filibuster reform package, and to do so with only 51 Democratic votes. Further, according to the Washington Post, this stronger package would include one of our two primary demands—flipping the burden on filibusters to the minority party:
Right now, the majority needs to supply the 60 votes to break a filibuster. The minority only needs one vote on the floor. Under Reid’s backup plan, the burden would be reversed: The minority would have to supply the 41 votes required to keep a filibuster going, while the majority wouldn’t have to do much of anything. That means that if the minority only had 38 votes present in the room, the filibuster would end. It also means the minority could be forced to muster all their people to vote at times of the majority leader’s choosing: say, 3 a.m. on a Saturday. It would make filibustering a much more unpleasant experience.
This would be a pretty dang big deal, and we need to let Senator Reid know that he would have our support if he decides to go that route.
Please sign our petition to Senate Majority Leader Reid, letting him know that you support him if he decides to pass the powerful "flipping the burden" filibuster reform with only Democratic votes. We will email the signatures to his office early tomorrow morning as the final decision is being made.
http://kos.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=oMXUMT4D45ZWGTIw2mEruMhyvT0iUJr3
Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers
Campaign Director, Daily Kos
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