You can reclaim the Senate - you really can

LeRoy GoldmanOPINION  12:09 a.m. EDT July 6, 2014

You can reclaim the Senate - you really can

The recent death of Republican U.S. Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee reminded me how much the Senate has changed for the worse. In fact the change is so profound that only the demented or the delusional would now argue that the Senate functions at all.

Of course, it didn’t use to be this way. I know. I had the privilege of working in the U.S. Senate for most of the 1970s as the staff director of the Senate Health Subcommittee. Back then, and until the mid-1990s, the Senate functioned and functioned well. Sure, it was not perfect. Sure, there were many who were deeply opposed to the actions it took. But the Senate of those days grappled with controversial bills, debated them, perfected them by permitting the minority party to offer amendments to them, and then passed them. Filibusters were rare because both sides understood the danger of letting that genie out of the bottle.

Instead of filibusters hamstringing the legislative process, the Unanimous Consent Agreement was the procedural mechanism of choice used to advance, amend, and pass most all legislation. The UCA described in detail the procedures that would govern the consideration of a bill. It could take days or even several weeks to get a UCA drafted and approved. But once drafted and adopted, the green light was on for that bill. And a UCA meant just what it said. It required unanimous agreement of all 100 senators. How was that achieved, and more importantly, achieved over and over again?

The answer to that question comes in two parts. One part is today beyond our grasp. The other isn’t. Back then the Senate Republican and Democratic caucuses were diverse. The Republican Caucus was mainly conservative, but it also had moderates like Jack Javits of New York, Chuck Percy of Illinois and Mark Hatfield of Oregon. The Democratic Caucus was mainly liberal, but it also had conservatives like John Stennis of Mississippi, Russell Long of Louisiana and Vance Hartke of Indiana. That diversity on both sides of the aisle produced compromise, mutual respect, and trust. Today that diversity is no more. Now the Republican Caucus is monolithically conservative, and the Democratic Caucus is monolithically liberal. Unsurprisingly, the two no longer work together or trust each other.

And their respective leaders, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), personify all that is dysfunctional in the Senate today. They loathe one another. There isn’t a smidgen of trust between them. They each understand their job is a zero-sum game in which the only option is to win at the expense of the other.

With the cowardly acquiescence of the members of both caucuses, the two leaders have been able to aggrandize their own power such that it has destroyed the integrity of the Senate and the legislative process.

For example, Reid now writes major legislation in his own office. That circumvents the normal working of the Senate’s Legislative Committees. It makes a mockery of legislative hearings and mark-up sessions. It precludes the bipartisan give and take that otherwise would occur during the legislative committee process. And then Reid employs a tactic known as “filling the tree”, which precludes the Republicans from offering amendments to his bill. And guess what McConnell does in retaliation? He threatens or mounts a filibuster against the bill. And that produces the gridlock that has suffocated the Senate.

If the GOP recaptures the Senate this November, this problem will continue. Reid and McConnell will simply swap their destructive roles.

Reid and McConnell have got to go. Neither of their caucuses will purge them. But you can. This November there will be 36 Senate seats up for grabs, including the one here in North Carolina between Kay Hagan and Thom Tillis.

Write or call both Hagan and Tillis and tell them that you will not vote for them this November unless they openly renounce any intention of voting for either Reid or McConnell as Senate leaders. Also tell each of them that they must also renounce support for the secret voting procedure that both parties employ in electing their respective leaders.

Sending this message to Hagan and Tillis will put the fear of God into them. It will corner both of them. As the press picks up on the movement you will have begun, it will spread to other states. Since the Senate won’t save itself, do it for them. It’s called, We The People.

LeRoy Goldman is an unaffiliated voter who lives in Flat Rock. He can be reached at:  EmailMe

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