Progress Illinois

Once upon a time, passing legislation in Washington didn't require 60 votes in the Senate.  The filibuster was generally reserved for issues of great national importance -- civil rights legislation is a prime example -- and a simple majority almost always sufficed. But times have changed. For one, marathon speeches aren't required to sustain a filibuster anymore; now, leaders just take periodic voice votes on cloture (i.e. a vote to end debate) while other business is conducted. Intransigence has been an intentional strategy of the Republican leadership as well. As a result, the Senate almost doubled the number of cloture votes required of previous Congresses. And even bills that do get passed are almost always watered down to generate enough support from parochial Democrats.

But with 60 votes in the Senate now, the Democratic Party has the opportunity to bust through the gridlock. All they need to do is stick together on procedural votes, according to Illinois' own Dick Durbin:

Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., said Tuesday that the message to the caucus — particularly to more than a dozen moderate Democrats — was: “Don’t let the Republicans filibuster us into failure. We want to succeed, and to succeed, we need to stick together."

This is an important point. Supporting cloture is not the same as supporting passage of a given bill. And Durbin is not asking Democrats from red states to vote with President Obama across the board. All he is asking is for them to help the party leadership release bills from legislative purgatory and allow up-or-down votes. Once a cap-and-trade bill reaches the Senate floor, for example, Sen. Evan Bayh can crisscross Indiana deriding it as "cap-and-tax job killer." But as a Democrat, there is no reason he should join Republican leaders and obstruct his own party's platform.

The political distinction is key here. As Ed Kilgore writes, "[N]o senator has ever been defeated for re-election solely on the basis of voting for cloture on a bill they intend ultimately to oppose." Bayh and company will still get their soundbite. Those who support Obama, meanwhile, will see his agenda get a fair shake.