VP Biden Attacks The Filibuster, But Will He Do Anything About It?

[t0dd]

Vice President Joe Biden had some harsh words for the abuse of the filibuster in the Senate this weekend.

“As long as I have served … I’ve never seen, as my uncle once said, the Constitution stood on its head as they’ve done. This is the first time every single solitary decisions has required 60 senators,” he said at a Florida fundraiser, according to the pool report. “No democracy has survived needing a super majority.”

To my knowledge this is the first time someone in the Obama administration has publicly attacked the anti-constitutional and destructive nature of the filibuster so directly. The big question is: will Joe Biden do anything about it?

As Vice President, Joe Biden is officially President pro tempore of the Senate. This gives him the power to help eliminate the filibuster using the so-called “nuclear option.” A senator would need to call a point of order against the filibuster, and Joe Biden as President pro tempore would need to make a parliamentary ruling upholding the point of order. This would likely result in an “appealing from the Chair,” and force a simple majority vote on whether to eliminate the filibuster or not.

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http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/01/18/vp-biden-attacks-the-filibuster-but-will-he-do-anything-about-it/

[msongs]

1. what did he do about it while he was a senator? there's yer answer nt

[t0dd]

3. The Senate President actually has more power

than a plain Senator, believe it or not.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. No they don't

The Senate President's actual power consists of breaking ties and that's about it. The Senate rules basically make the Senate President powerless.

[WI_DEM]

8. please enlighten us more with a link to how Biden could change the filibuster.

[clear eye]

2. Very interesting. n/t

[elocs]

4. I don't think there is much Biden can do, but here is some info about it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-court/call-to-change-senates-fi_b_394451.html

Rule 22 of the Senate, governing filibusters, can be changed or eliminated by a simple majority according to the US Supreme Court in U.S. v. Ballin (1892) Senate rules call for 67 to change the cloture rule, but Democrats should be able to rewrite the rules since they control the Rules Committee. Rule 22 can go out the door all together or be modified. Republicans under Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened to blow up the filibuster in 2005 with far fewer numbers. What are Democrats waiting for?

Possibly Democrats might worry about when, not if, they again lose control of the Senate to the Republicans. It will happen sooner or later.

[Hippo_Tron]

5. President of the Senate is a ceremonial office

It has been that way ever since the first Senate decided they didn't like John Adams' style of presiding. The "nuclear option" is a bunch of crap made up by the Republicans and there's nothing "constitutional" about it.

Here's the bottom line. As the majority party, the Democrats can ignore Senate procedures and force a vote on something by simple brute force just as the Republicans could when they are in power. They preside over the Senate and they appoint the Secretaries who call the roll and the Sgt. At Arms who enforces decorum in the chamber. They can fire these people and appoint new ones if they refuse to comply. The "nuclear option" is just a fancy name for using brute force to break the rules of the Senate.

But these drastic measures will more or less turn the Senate into the House where the minority party has literally no power to shape legislation and individual senators won't have the power that they presently do.

I should add that if the Democrats did this, the courts my get involved.

[WI_DEM]

7. As President of the Senate he doesn't have anything to do with changing senate rules.

[MiniMe]

9. The job of the President of the Senate is to break ties

That is it. Unlike what Sarah Palin thinks, they cannot enter legislation, or vote on anything but a tie.