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A group of Democratic Senators yesterday introduced a much anticipated resolution that would change the way Congress’ upper house does business. The proposal was brought on by what many see as an abuse of filibuster rules in the Senate by the minority Republican party over the past two years. Using merely the threat of a filibuster, Senate Republicans managed to derail many pieces of legislation with majority support, including the DREAM Act last year which would have offered a path to citizenship for some undocumented students. According to current rules, a super-majority of 60 votes out of a 100 is enough to over-ride a filibuster. However, Democrats, even before last November’s mid-term election thrashing, lacked the filibuster-proof magic number of votes. The four-page resolution released yesterday was expected to actually reduce the number of Senators required to end a filibuster, but stopped short of doing specifically that. Instead it eliminates secret holds on nominees, and calls for reforms to the amendment process so that no more than three amendments per Senator are allowed. The proposal also shortens the debate time allowed to move a piece of legislation for a vote. And, a Senator wanting to filibuster a bill must actually be speaking on the Senate floor in order to stymie the legislation at hand.

GUEST: Bob Edgar, the President of Common Cause

Find out more at www.commoncause.org.