environment Politics: Barack Obama filibuster reform
by Warren
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Month 10, Day 3: I’m Back From DC, and Boy Are My Arms Tired
Which is why I wrote this letter the night of Thursday, September 30.
Dear President Obama,
The mid-term elections will be held in a month. Thanks to the terrifying incompetence of the Republicans, it seems relatively likely that Democrats will hold the Senate. I write begging you to use all the eloquence of which you are capable to back filibuster reform when the next session of Congress opens.
While the abuse of the filibuster by the opposition party is by now commonly recognized, it has had particularly tragic and telling effects on the fate of climate legislation. Even the meticulously crafted capitulations to the oil and coal industries which were included in the Kerry-Lieberman bill were not enough to motivate Republicans to vote for cloture.
The slow-motion disaster that is global climate change may not have an impact on the notoriously short attention span of an American citizen, but that doesn’t mean it can be safely ignored. Rather, global heating is nevertheless the most significant existential threat humanity has ever faced. While profoundly inadequate, Kerry-Lieberman was at least a start on addressing the problem. Instead, because of the malignant misuse of the filibuster, it was rendered irrelevant.
I hear that we may get a Renewable Energy Standard in the lame-duck session. Well, that’s something, even if it is like trying to put out a forest fire with a squirt gun. What we (America and humanity as a whole) really need is forceful environmental legislation that recognizes the scientific reality of climate change. What we’ll get is something different, I know. But at the very least we need a place to start. Please advocate to get climate legislation back on the Senate floor, and please advocate ending the abuse of the filibuster.
And (as a lifelong member of the Democratic “base”) I beg you: can you try and talk sense into the members of your party who seem determined to ensure that a Democratic majority will never again occur in our lifetimes? It’s very demoralizing.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: filibuster reform Harry Reid
by Warren
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Month 10, Day 2: I’m In Washington, La La La La
Note the clever paraphrasing job.
Dear Majority Leader Reid,
A month away from the mid-term elections, it seems likely that Democrats will hold the Senate — so it is in a hopeful mood that I write to urge you to use all the persuasiveness of which you are capable to back filibuster reform when the next session of Congress opens.
The sidelining of meaningful climate legislation by the threat of a Republican filibuster was and is an outrage. While climate change wreaks its havoc too slowly to have an impact on the notoriously short attention span of an American citizen, it is nevertheless the most significant existential threat humanity has ever faced. The legislation crafted by Senators Kerry and Lieberman, while inadequate in many ways, was at least a start. What an ignominy for it to be bluffed into irrelevance!
It is essential for our nation’s survival that the Senate pass a robust climate bill. While a Renewable Energy Standard may be all that we can get in the lame-duck session, I urge you to push as hard as possible to get climate legislation back on the Senate floor, and make sure it passes. Which will require two things: first, having some strong conversations with the Senate Democrats who are unwilling to vote for cloture on a bill that is part of their own party’s political platform (frankly, they seem determined to ensure that the nightmare represented by Democratic control of the Senate never occurs again). And second: ending the abuse of the filibuster.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment: filibuster reform
by Warren
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Month 10, Day 1: Strategic Redundancies
I am cheating a bit here. Wife, daughter and I are all headed for Washington, DC, tomorrow for the 10-2-10 rally. I wrote this long letter to John Kerry because I didn’t have time to write a short one. And the letter for Saturday is going to be a loose paraphrase of this one, sent to Harry Reid. And the letter for Sunday will be for POTUS…and I’m going to be writing them all tonight, so I won’t have to do it on the bus.
Dear Senator Kerry,
I write to urge you not only to back filibuster reform when the next session of Congress opens, but to urge your colleagues to do so as well.
One of the most devastating casualties of the present situation in the Senate has to have been the climate bill you were instrumental in developing. While that bill was insufficient for the dimensions of the task, it at least represented a start on tackling the most profound existential threat humanity has ever faced. What an ignominy for it to be bluffed into irrelevance by a Republican threat of filibuster (aided, of course, by some of your Democratic colleagues who are seemingly determined to ensure that the nightmare represented by a Democratic majority in the Senate never occur again).
We need to pass a climate bill. Ultimately it needs to be a lot stronger even than the bill you co-authored with Senators Lieberman and Graham. But we need a place to start.
And we’re not going to get it unless we reform the filibuster.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: filibuster reform John Kerry
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Month 8, Day 16: Filibusted
Figured I’d write to Kerry and whine about the filibuster.
Dear Senator Kerry,
On the assumption that the upcoming November elections will preserve the Democratic majority in the Senate, I am writing to ask you to speak as powerfully as possible on behalf of filibuster reform. The shelving of critical climate legislation has been a bitter pill to swallow for any of us who are concerned about the looming climate crisis. At the moment when it seemed we might possibly be able to make headway against Republican obstructionism, the problems involved in assembling the sixty votes required for cloture effectively doomed any hope for a meaningful bill. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
The behavior of Senate Republicans and a few conservative Democrats has left the United States in a deplorable position: as billions of people around the world face an uncertain future due to the ravages of climate change, a tiny group of rich and powerful men and women hold the power to stall any action. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
Even for bills that are broadly popular, a single senator from a state with a population less than that of Massachusetts’ capitol can effectively stymie forward motion — until special provisions, concessions or earmarks are inserted. A single senator can place an anonymous hold on legislation without giving any reason whatever, again halting forward motion. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
It should be no surprise that Congress’ approval ratings are low, for voters see that there is no political will to get things done; there is only a will to procrastinate….and procrastination is not a characteristic we expect in our leaders or our representatives. This is not how the Senate is supposed to work.
I am a lifelong Democrat and a fervent environmentalist. I believe deeply in the potential of our system of government. But right now, America’s Senate is completely dysfunctional. The Senate is supposed to work — and it doesn’t.
Please advocate forcefully for filibuster reform. The Senate needs to get to work. We cannot survive another legislative session of delaying tactics.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders