Barack Obama

Why Obama's Defying The GOP And Appointing Top Consumer Watchdog

Brian Beutler | January 4, 2012, 9:54AM

President Barack Obama

Update 10:17 Eastern. This post has been updated from an earlier version in order to reflect the full confirmation that has now come in..

The White House confirmed Wednesday morning that President Obama will announce a recess appointment for Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at a speech in Ohio later today. Cordray was a well-liked Ohio Attorney General until last year, after he was toppled by the GOP midterm wave in 2010.

Cordray's an accidental victim of a brazen act of GOP obstruction. They're refusing to allow an up-or-down vote on any CFPB nominee until the agency itself is fundamentally weakened -- an extra-legal attempt to nullify a key portion of an act of law.

Obama actually missed his best opportunity to recess appoint his top consumer watchdog on Tuesday. But there are reasons Obama opted to take a more confrontational approach.

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Super Committee

Lieberman: Let A Thousand Super Committees Bloom

Brian Beutler | December 13, 2011, 10:39AM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) speaks during a hearing conducted by the Senate Homeland Security Committee to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on September 13, 2011 in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) says the right response to the failure of the Super Committee is to let a thousand ad hoc Super Committees bloom.

When the panel failed, it lost all of its power, which was in essence the power to force Congress to hold up-or-down votes on their recommendations -- no amendments, no filibuster.

Lieberman wants to extend these same powers to any sufficiently large bipartisan "gang" in the House or Senate, if they can come up with at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reducing measures over the course of three months.

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Financial Reform

Sr. White House Official: GOP Consumer Bureau Demands 'Unacceptable'

Brian Beutler | December 5, 2011, 6:12PM

President Barack Obama

The White House making a big public push to pressure moderate Republicans to support Richard Cordray, President Obama's nominee to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, when the Senate votes on his confirmation Thursday. Nearly all Senate Republicans have vowed to filibuster any potential director until Democrats agree to dramatically scale back the bureau's regulatory power.

In a background briefing with reporters Monday, a senior White House official said the GOP's demands won't fly.

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Medicare

GOP Filibuster Ends Tenure Of Health Care Cost Cutting Expert

Brian Beutler | November 23, 2011, 1:45PM

President Obama hasn't used his recess appointment power very often. But he didn't hesitate to install Donald Berwick as the administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services without Senate confirmation over a year ago, to lead the implementation of the new health care law. Berwick's has, without a doubt, been Obama's most important recess appointment, and his most effective. But he will step down early next month -- a few weeks before his term expires -- because filibustering Republicans continue to deny him an up or down vote.

The GOP claims its opposition is rooted in Berwick's past praise of Britain's state-run National Health Service. But his powers as CMS administrator obviously stop well short of socializing the United States health care system. So what gives?

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Jobs

Senate Dems Face Major Challenge On Key Part Of Obama Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | November 1, 2011, 5:55AM

Senate Democrats will continue to force Republicans to filibuster popular pieces of President Obama's jobs bill in the days weeks ahead -- to bolster their narrative that Republicans would rather see the economy fail than help Obama, or raise taxes by even a fraction of a percent on millionaires and billionaires.

But sometime between now and the end of the year, Dems will either have to interrupt their strategy or risk watching as two key provisions that helped bolster the economy this year lapse, and threaten what's already expected to be modest economic growth in 2012.

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Jobs

Senate 'Comity' Breaks Down Over Duelling Jobs Bill Votes

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2011, 11:36AM

Did another Senate tradition come to an end this week?

Not exactly. But something very rare did happen and Democrats are using it as a cautionary tale, to warn Republicans not to get too brazen.

Thursday night, Democrats filibustered a Republican-backed provision of President Obama's jobs bill, because the GOP proposed to pay for it by slashing $30 billion worth of funds for federal programs. Republicans forced the vote to build a counter-narrative that Democrats don't want to work with them on jobs legislation, even bits of Obama's own plan.

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Jobs

Senate Republicans Block Dem Jobs Bill For Teachers, Firefighters

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2011, 10:34PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Republicans, joined by three conservative members of the Democratic caucus, blocked a floor debate on a key portion of President Obama's jobs bill, which would have provided states $35 billion to hire or retain teachers and emergency responders.

The final tally on the late Thursday vote was 50-50, with Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Ben Nelson (D-NE) voting with the entire Republican caucus to support the filibuster. The GOP continues to oppose all economic stimulus proposals that involve spending money on jobs, and take even greater exception to Obama's jobs bills, which pays for that spending with a small surtax on millionaires.

Democrats expected the legislation to fail, but plan to use routine GOP obstruction to strengthen the narrative that the Republican party is unwilling to help improve the economy, or to raise taxes on wealthy people to pay for any of the country's needs.

To wit, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) issued an official statement after the vote denouncing Republicans for "unanimously block[iing] a bill that would have kept 400,000 teachers in the classroom and first responders on the job because they refuse to ask millionaires to pay their fair share."

"By asking millionaires to pay an extra half a penny on the dollar, this bill would have created jobs by keeping our communities safe and ensuring that our children continue to have access to a high-quality education," Reid said. "Unfortunately, protecting millionaires and defeating President Obama are more important to my Republican colleagues than creating jobs and getting our economy back on track."

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Nuclear Option

GOP Incensed At Reid's 'Tyrannical' Hardball Tactic

Brian Beutler | October 7, 2011, 10:14AM

Harry Reid (D-NV)

As explained at length here, Harry Reid's Thursday night power play set a very narrow new precedent in the Senate. But it was a power play nonetheless. Setting aside its less-than-modest real impact, it required using the same "nuclear option" tactics Republicans threatened in 2005 during the fight over judicial filibusters. If in 2005 the GOP was threatening to detonate a massive H-bomb over a major city, last night Harry Reid set off a rusty old fission devise in the empty desert. Both nukes, very different impacts.

But Republicans are steamed. Steamed doesn't really even begin to describe it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was practically trembling in anger Thursday night. On Twitter, NRSC chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) called the move "tyranny". And a Senate GOP leadership aide sent me the following remark, suggesting Republicans will remember this whenever they take the majority.

"Democrats are remarkably short-sighted--they forget they'll be in the minority someday and will have to live with THEIR rules," the aide said.

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Harry Reid

Nuclear Option?! What Really Happened On The Senate Floor, And Why It Matters

Brian Beutler | October 6, 2011, 9:31PM

Did Harry Reid pull the nuclear option in the Senate Thursday night? That all depends what you mean by "nuclear option." Reid did succeed in changing the Senate's rules tonight, but in exceptionally narrow terms. And the only danger for Senate Democrats -- as with setting any new precedent -- is that an opportunistic future GOP majority will seize upon what happened Thursday as an excuse to make much bigger, broader changes to parliamentary procedure, perhaps even nixing the filibuster.

All day -- and really all week -- Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have been involved in a procedural jousting match. McConnell's goal has been to embarrass Democrats -- to force a vote of some kind on the jobs bill President Obama sent to Congress weeks ago, and watch it go down in flames. Reid's goal has been to thwart McConnell, and to call his own vote in the coming days on a modified version of Obama's bill with broader caucus support. That will help Democrats make the case that Republicans alone stand in the way of the American Jobs Act.

Mostly this was about positioning. McConnell wants a version -- any version -- of the Obama jobs bill to fail with bipartisan opposition. He wants to upset Reid's efforts to draw a sharp contrast between the parties over jobs. Knowing that Republicans will filibuster all versions of Obama's jobs bills, Reid wants to make it clear in the public mind that it's the GOP that's preventing a bold jobs package from moving forward.

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Jobs

McConnell Vies For Headlines Over Obama Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | October 4, 2011, 4:28PM

Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV)

Mitch McConnell just pulled a made-for-headlines trick on the Senate floor, challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to allow an immediate vote on President Obama's jobs bill -- not as a stand-alone measure, but as an amendment to the China currency legislation the Senate is currently debating.

Obama's been demanding that Congress pass his jobs bill day in and day out for weeks, so the tactic had an obvious allure. It wasn't done in the spirit of debating the jobs bill, or even giving it an up or down vote. It was to generate headlines like, "McConnell demands vote on Obama jobs bill" or "Reid blocks vote on Obama jobs bill." Or if Reid had allowed the vote, the headlines could've read "Dems Join Republicans In Rebuffing Obama Jobs Bill."

Pretty clever. But it's not the whole story.

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Jobs

Reid: I Can't Get Unanimous Support From Dems To Use The Bathroom, Let Alone For Obama's Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | October 4, 2011, 3:45PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Democrats are tweaking President Obama's jobs bill, to consolidate support for it within the caucus. The details of the tweaks haven't been disclosed yet, but the goal is to set it up for a test vote later this month that garners the support of more than 50 senators.

There are 53 Democrats, though, and thanks to Senate filibuster rules, the test vote will be held at a 60-vote threshold. Getting over the 50-vote middle-point will allow Obama to claim that a minority in the Senate is obstructing his plan. But it won't stop Republicans from claiming "bipartisan opposition" to Obama's bill. The only way to do that is to get all 53 members on board.

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Debt Ceiling

Reid To GOP: You Have Until Midnight

Brian Beutler | July 29, 2011, 1:17PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

You have until midnight.

That's the message Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has conveyed to Senate Republicans. If they want any further input on his debt limit bill, they need to speak up by then. Otherwise, he'll touch off a process that could result in passage of his plan on the afternoon of August 2.

"I have invited Sen. McConnell to sit down with me and to negotiate in good faith, knowing the clock is running down. I hope he will accept my offer," Reid said on the Senate floor Friday. "I know the Senate compromise bill Democrats have offered is not perfect in Republican' eyes. Nor is it perfect for Democrats."

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Ron Johnson

Ron Johnson Paralyzes Senate Over Budget Fight

Benjy Sarlin | June 28, 2011, 4:49PM

Ad from candidate for U.S. Senate Ron Johnson (R-WI), "57"

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) ground the Senate to a halt on Tuesday, threatening to block "business as usual" until Democrats submit a budget.

Johnson began his broadside by objecting to a quorum call, blocking the Senate from proceeding with a vote. Quorum calls, like many basic Senate procedures, are approved by unanimous consent and Johnson threatened in a floor speech to wreak havoc on these uncontroversial motions.

"Business as usual is bankrupting America," he said in a floor speech. "It must stop."

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Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander On Blocking Nominations: That's What Nominations Are For!

Brian Beutler | June 16, 2011, 5:45AM

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)

Presidential nominations: What are they good for? Absolutely nothing! Except being blocked in the Senate.

At least that's Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-TN) understanding.

"That's what nominations are for," he quipped to reporters Wednesday after a Capitol briefing on GOP tax and regulatory proposals. "When I was nominated to be Education Secretary, Senator [Howard] Metzenbaum held me up for three months.

At the time he wasn't pleased, but since becoming a senator, his prerogatives have changed. Though he helped broker a modest truce between the parties over obstructive tactics at the beginning of the year, he still supports a senators right to use advise and consent powers to block nominations and extract policy concessions.

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Elizabeth Warren

One-Time Warren Foe Now Pressuring Obama To Give Her Recess Appointment To Head Consumer Bureau

Brian Beutler | May 23, 2011, 3:04PM

Elizabeth Warren

The head of the Oklahoma Banker's Association -- a one-time Elizabeth Warren skeptic who believed she was "akin to the Antichrist" -- is now asking President Obama to provide her a recess appointment to direct the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"I write to encourage you to appoint Elizabeth Warren as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and to do so with a 'recess appointment' at the first opportunity," wrote Roger Beverage -- President and CEO of the OBA -- in a May 19 letter to Obama, provided to TPM. "In light of the action taken by the forty-four senators who have stated they will oppose any nominee to serve as Director of the new Bureau unless certain changes are made to the Bureau's structure, I encourage you to wait no longer and give Elizabeth a recess appointment before the July 21st transfer date."

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Elizabeth Warren

Dems Press Obama To Recess Appoint Elizabeth Warren To Run Consumer Bureau

Brian Beutler | May 19, 2011, 8:28AM

Elizabeth Warren

With Senate Republicans committed to blocking all potential directors of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, congressional Democrats are pressing President Obama to accept reality and offer Elizabeth Warren a recess appointment to head the agency she conceived of.

"Regretfully, Republicans in the Senate have now made it clear that they oppose reform," reads a letter from House Democrats that will be delivered to President Obama.

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Oil Subsidies

Republicans Filibuster Bill To Repeal Oil Subsidies

Brian Beutler | May 17, 2011, 7:16PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY)

As expected, a Democratic bill that would have stripped big oil companies of multi-billion annual tax subsidies failed to overcome a Republican filibuster Tuesday evening. The heavily partisan 52-48 vote fell well short of the 60 required to achieve cloture. Three Democrats -- Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Mark Begich (D-AK), and Ben Nelson (D-NE) -- voted with Republicans to maintain the subsidies. Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) voted with the Democrats.

Democrats have turned oil subsidies into a major issue as Congress looks at ways to tame high deficits and the national debt. They've been fueled in their efforts by soaring gas prices and extraordinary industry profits. And party leaders have vowed to include the tax breaks in any grand fiscal bargain tied to raising the debt limit.

But this effort was all about politics. Democrats want to highlight the GOP alignment with oil companies this election season and Tuesday's vote will help them do that. But if it had passed it would have run smack into a pretty big problem -- because, er, it was unconstitutional.

Debt Ceiling

Republicans Escalate Debt Ceiling Fight

Brian Beutler | March 14, 2011, 9:29AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Senate Republican leaders in recent days have escalated a showdown that has been lurking in the background of the more immediate fight over funding the federal government through September. While the funding issue remains unresolved, Congress will soon have to turn its attention to the need to raise the national debt limit, or the country will default in just a few weeks.

"There are 53 Democrats and 47 Republicans. My prediction is not a single one of the 47 Republicans will vote to raise the debt ceiling unless it includes with it some credible effort to do something about our debt," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Fox News Sunday. "I think to get any of the 47 Republicans, you've got to do something credible -that the markets believe is credible, that the American people believe is credible, that foreign countries believe is credible -- in addition to raising the debt ceiling."

One of McConnell's top lieutenant's, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), was more direct about this. On Twitter, he wrote "[d]ebt ceiling vote is ultimate leverage to get fiscal reform."

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Filibuster Reform

Tom Harkin Looks To Courts To Reform The Filibuster

Brian Beutler | January 28, 2011, 9:43AM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), a long-time advocate of filibuster reform, was the lone senior senator to publicly align himself with Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in their effort to change the Senate's rules.

Those efforts were neutered this week by the leaders of both parties. With the exception of some modest tweaks, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) agreed that the rules would remain largely unchanged. Beyond that, though,they shook hands and agreed that for the next several years, neither party will attempt to change the filibuster rules on a majority-vote basis -- what's known as the "Constitutional option."

Under these circumstances, Harkin has given up hope that the Senate will ever reassess itself, and is looking to the courts to step in and shake things up.

"It's clear now that the Senate can not change its rules," Harkin told me in an interview Thursday evening. "It can not."

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Filibuster Reform

Filibuster Reform Effort Falls Short In Senate

Brian Beutler | January 25, 2011, 6:02PM

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)

An effort to change the Senate's filibuster rules on a majority-vote basis ended Tuesday evening under growing pressure from Democratic and Republican party leaders.

In its place, senators from both parties will soon consider a bipartisan framework, negotiated by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), which include a handful of more modest reforms.

"We don't have an agreement yet," Alexander told reporters Tuesday afternoon. "We're still having discussions. Several of our members, and several Democratic members still have decisions to make. And when we finish, Senator Reid and Senator McConnell will go to the floor and announce an agreement when there is an agreement.

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Filibuster Reform

Senators Near Consensus On Filibuster Reform Alternative

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2011, 12:41PM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

A quick update on the substance, as opposed to the process, of filibuster reform in the Senate.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will pick up where he left off in pursuit of his filibuster reform proposals when the Senate reconvenes this week. But parallel negotiations between Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on a more modest rules reform framework are ongoing. And there's emerging consensus on three flanks.

New to that slate, according to a Senate aide, is a proposal to that would forbid "individual senators [from forcing] the reading of certain pieces of legislation, if they've been posted for certain periods of time." There's still no clarity on what categories of legislation would be exempted from this, or how long they'd have to be public.

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Filibuster Reform

Joe Biden: The Key To Filibuster Reform?

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2011, 10:50AM

Vice President Biden

This week, a group of Democratic filibuster reformers will face the first big test of their effort to invoke the "Constitutional Option" -- a process by which members can change the Senate rules by a majority vote. The theory underlying their efforts is that the previous Senate's rules aren't really valid until the new Senate has intentionally adopted them.

That's leading to confusion over whether they're truly on the path to invoking the Constitutional Option -- and that, in turn, means Vice President Joe Biden might have to weigh in and settle the dispute.

Here's the issue under contention.

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Health Care

Senate Dems Plot Aggressive Strategy To Fight Health Care Repeal

Brian Beutler | January 21, 2011, 9:17AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Senate Democrats might not let Republicans' health care repeal efforts die quietly after all.

A top Democratic aide tells me that leadership staffers are considering ways to make Republicans take tough votes on popular elements of the bill, as Republicans figure out if and how they'll force a vote on full repeal.

Nothing's been finalized, including precisely how they'd go about it. But the point would be to turn a global health care repeal push into something more piecemeal -- should seniors pay back their $250 doughnut hole check? Should children with pre-existing conditions be stripped of insurance?

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Eric Cantor

Republicans Discover Their Love For Filibuster Reform -- House Republicans, That Is

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 11:01AM

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Senate Democrats who want to reform the filibuster may have found an unlikely ally: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).

"I've got a problem with the assumption here that somehow the Senate can be a place for legislation to go into a cul-de-sac or dead end," Cantor told reporters this morning.

He's referring specifically, of course, to the Repealing the Job Killing Health Care Law Act, which the House will pass tonight. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says the bill is a partisan exercise, and a non-starter -- thus, Cantor and other Republicans want the upper chamber to discover its populist side.

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Filibuster Reform

Republicans 'Giddy' About One Proposed Filibuster Reform

Brian Beutler | January 7, 2011, 1:26PM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

In a bid to attract Republican support for filibuster reform, Democrats led by Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley have proposed a new rule that would guarantee the minority party the chance to offer three amendments to any legislation.

It may have worked too well. A senior Senate Republican leadership aide says GOP members would be "giddy" if they were given that right.

Here's why. Those amendments would be filibuster-proof -- among the only pieces of legislation in all the Senate to enjoy that privilege -- and would therefore be a recipe for poison pill amendments on both sides.

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Filibuster Reform

How Senate Filibuster Reform Could Invite A Flood Of Poison Pills

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2011, 9:25AM

Harry Reid (D-NV)

A provision in a new package of Senate filibuster reforms meant to protect the minority from the majority's power has supporters both on and off the Hill nervous about its potential to invite poison pills.

One of the GOP's main criticisms of Harry Reid's leadership is that he too often "fills the amendment tree," which essentially eliminates the minority's power to offer amendments. To address that, reform leaders Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) included a measure in their rules package that would have guaranteed the majority and the minority votes on three germane amendments, regardless of whether the "amendment tree" was otherwise filled.

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Filibuster Reform

BREAKING: Senate Filibuster Reform Package

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2011, 12:21PM

Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV)

Here are the specific filibuster reforms that Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), will be pushing beginning this afternoon, obtained by TPM. Spoiler: they include at least one little-discussed item meant to appeal to the minority.

As promised, Udall proposes ending secret holds and the right of the minority to filibuster the start of debate, and demanding the "talking" filibuster.

But, according to documents provided by Udall's office in advance of his floor speech, it also includes a proposal that guarantees both parties the right to amend legislation -- limiting the majority leader's power to "fill the amendment tree" and block extended debate.

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Filibuster Reform

Filibuster Reform Effort Kicks Off Today

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2011, 10:43AM

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)

Today, a number of Democrats will launch their attempt to amend the filibuster.

Wednesday afternoon on the Senate floor, armed with a package of reforms, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will take the first in a complicated, unusual series of steps that allows a simple-majority of senators to change the Senate rules.

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Filibuster

Top GOPer Lamar Alexander Rails Against Filibuster Reform

Evan McMorris-Santoro | January 4, 2011, 5:30PM

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)

Be careful what you wish for, progressive filibuster reform advocates. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) says the proposed changes to the filibuster pushed by Democrats like Sen. Tom Udall (NM) would make it possible for a legislative "freight train" to run unfettered through the Senate -- one that Democrats facing a tough election in 2012 may not like.

"They better be careful, because the freight train could be the Tea Party Express," Alexander told reporters today.

Alexander stopped by the conservative Heritage Foundation this afternoon to talk up the filibuster -- and scare the daylights out of anyone who'd dare try to change it.

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Filibuster Reform

The Senate's Long, Twisted, Bumpy Road To Filibuster Reform

Brian Beutler | December 31, 2010, 8:50AM

Vice President Biden

At some point on January 5, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will take the Senate floor and begin a process that he hopes will end in the successful use of the "Constitutional option" -- the prerogative of a majority of the Senate's members to rewrite its rules on the first day of a new Congress.

He and his allies have been vocal about their plan. But the actual sequence of events that starts with him giving a speech, and ends with filibuster reform, is obscure, fragile, and extremely complicated. In fact, it's so involved that the "first day" of the 112th Senate could actually last for weeks.

There are myriad unknowns and X-factors that could change the course of events, and even upend Udall's ambitions altogether. But what follows is a list of steps he and the Senate will have to take to succeed in exercising the "Constitutional option," so called because the Constitution empowers the Senate to write its own rules.

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Filibuster

How Harry Reid And Mitch McConnell Could Upend Filibuster Reform

Brian Beutler | December 30, 2010, 12:10PM

A handful of junior Democrats, including Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), have done an impressive job building momentum for a package of modest, but meaningful, changes to the Senate's filibuster rules. But their plan could be completely upended and replaced by even more modest reforms, if Democratic and Republican leaders successfully negotiate a bipartisan rules reform compromise.

In a phone interview with me Wednesday, Udall described negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) as a "separate track" from his own efforts.

A Senate Democratic aide confirms that those discussions are ongoing, and haven't yet yielded consensus. But if they do, that consensus would serve as a stand-in for Udall's approach, not as an endorsement of it, as previous reporting has suggested.

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Tom Udall

Paging Mr. Smith! How The Senate May Return To The Old-School Filibuster

Brian Beutler | December 30, 2010, 8:30AM

Still from "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" (1939)

On January 5, 2011 -- the first day of the 112th Congress -- Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) will touch off a long debate, which he hopes will result in a majority-rules vote on a package of meaningful changes to the Senate rules. After a series of private conversations with Democratic members, he and his allies have settled upon a framework including three distinct reforms designed to unclog the Senate and scale back the minority's power.

The consensus package will aim to put an end to "secret holds" (anonymous filibuster threats) and disallow the minority from blocking debate on an issue altogether. Those two reforms are fairly straightforward. The third is a bit more complex. Udall, along with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), say there's broad agreement on the idea to force old-school filibusters. If members want to keep debating a bill, they'll have to actually talk. No more lazy filibusters.

But how would that actually work? In an interview Wednesday, Udall explained the ins and outs of that particular proposal.

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Congress

On The Floor: Ten Great Moments From Congress In 2010 (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | December 27, 2010, 8:33AM

As the year comes to a close, and we look ahead to all the wild and wacky things that are sure to happen in the new Republican-controlled House and only narrowly Democratic-controlled Senate, let's take a look back at the past year. A whole lot of amazing and memorable moments happened not only on the campaign trail, but on the two Congressional floors in the Capitol itself.

We've gathered together 10 unforgettable moments from the House and Senate in 2010. Some of them are great -- while others are just so bad that they're good.

But all of them give some perspective on the people who have been running our government, or who are about to have even more power next year. So sit back, relax, and laugh -- because it's better than crying.

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Filibuster Reform

Report: Reid 'Devising A Plan' For Filibuster Reform

Eric Kleefeld | December 23, 2010, 12:52PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Is momentum building for Senate Democrats to change the filibuster rules, following the past two years in which Senate GOPers used their reduced numbers to throw up more procedural blocks than in any past Congress?

As Greg Sargent reports:

At a caucus meeting this week attended only by Senators and no staff, Reid and fellow Dems devoted a significant chunk of time to a discussion about specific ideas on how to proceed, the aide says.

...

"They are already talking it through and devising a plan," the aide said of Reid and fellow Dems, adding that Reid is having "conversations" with other members of the caucus "about the best way to move forward."

Sargent reports that various ideas have made the rounds, including efforts to do away with the modern phony filibuster and force Senators to actually talk on the floor. But how would they change the rules? Sargent reports: "Dems are also coalescing behind the so-called 'constitutional option,' which has it that each new Congress has the right to set its own rules by simple majority vote."

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Filibuster Reform

111th Senate Breaks A Filibuster Record

Brian Beutler | December 23, 2010, 9:24AM

Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV)

If you're wondering why Dems are all of a sudden smitten with the idea of reforming Senate rules, check out this chart, passed along by a Democratic source.

Over the last two years, Dems broke more filibusters than any Senate in recorded history. In fact the only other Senate that comes close was the last Senate, right after the GOP lost its controlling majority on the Hill.

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Bernie Sanders

Sanders Ends Daylong Filibuster Of Tax Cut Compromise

Brian Beutler | December 10, 2010, 1:47PM

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Updated 7:22 p.m. ET

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) finally yielded the Senate floor Friday evening after nearly nine hours of speaking against the Obama tax cut plan. He was spelled briefly by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) but otherwise had the floor to himself for the bulk of a day when there was no other Senate business pending.

Original Story:

About three hours ago, just as he took the Senate floor, Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) staff, tweeted: "You can call what i am doing today whatever you want, you it [sic] call it a filibuster, you can call it a very long speech..."

And he's been speaking, almost uninterrupted, ever since.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Block That Bill! A History Of The Filibuster]

It's a filibuster as filibusters were originally intended -- and, as such, makes a mockery of what the filibuster's become: a gimmick that allows a minority of senators to quietly impose supermajority requirements on any piece of legislation.

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Bernie Sanders

Sanders Outlines Plan To Sink Obama Tax Compromise

Brian Beutler | December 7, 2010, 5:06PM

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is making the loudest filibuster threats in the Senate right now, vowing to do all he can to block President Obama's tax cut compromise.

Here's how: "Find a handful of Republicans who are willing to vote no on this agreement and then come back and come up with a proposal that is much stronger and much fairer," he told reporters today.

"What I'm saying as a progressive should appeal to conservatives all over this country," Sanders added. "I think we have a winnable fight here. I think the American people are with us and I intend to do everything that I can to defeat this proposal."

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Bush Tax Cuts

Unhappy Dems Mull Obama-GOP Tax Cut Deal

Brian Beutler | December 6, 2010, 8:11PM

President Barack Obama meets with Democratic and Republican leaders

Senior White House officials tonight put a positive spin on the tax cut framework President Obama has agreed to with the GOP, while insisting, repeatedly, that they oppose -- and will only reluctantly swallow -- a two year extension of the Bush tax cuts. But the tentative deal is now subject to the consideration of Congressional Democrats who have already telegraphed serious concerns with the plan.

On a conference call with reporters, administration officials boasted of securing nearly $200 billion in new stimulus measures -- a one-year, two-percent payroll tax cut, and a year-long extension of unemployment insurance -- in exchange for giving the wealthiest Americans two further years of tax cuts. But though this framework will punt the tax cut fight into the 2012 elections, frightening a number of Congressional Democrats, the officials insist that they will not shy away from the fight as election season heats up.

Addressing the media tonight, President Obama outlined the compromise.

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Bush Tax Cuts

Senate Republicans Block Middle Class Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 4, 2010, 11:20AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Senate Republicans today successfully filibustered two Democratic tax cut bills that would have allowed Bush-era tax cuts benefiting only the wealthiest sliver of the country to expire. The party-line votes were intended by Democratic leaders to put Republicans on the record blocking the extension of tax cuts that would have benefited all Americans in order to secure additional tax cuts for the highest-income earners in America.

Today's result was never in doubt. At a press conference yesterday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who masterminded the votes, characterized today's exercise as part of a long-running argument between Democrats and Republicans -- one that voters will judge on election day in 2012. "This is going to be a winning argument not just for the next one to two weeks, but for the next two years," he said.

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