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This Wednesday, the new United States Senate will hold its first vote, and the issue on the table couldn’t be more important—filibuster reform. If you live in the US, we need you to call your Senator. Here’s why:<\/p>\nThis Wednesday, the new United States Senate will hold its first vote, and the issue on the table couldn’t be more important—filibuster reform. If you live in the US, we need you to call your Senator. Here’s why:<\/p>\n
Under current Senate rules, a small group of Senators may enact a procedural maneuver, called a filibuster, which allows them to block a vote on a particular piece of legislation. It only takes one Senator to launch a filibuster, but a super-majority of sixty votes is required to end it, and that many votes can be very difficult to come by.<\/p>\n
So, what does this have to do with the climate movement?<\/p>\n
Current rules have allowed the minority in the Senate to use the filibuster as a partisan tool for delaying progress in Congress, and that includes the passing of climate legislation. In order to have a fair chance of passing a climate bill in the next two years, the Senate rules on filibustering will have to change.<\/p>\n
Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) has championed a proposal to change the current rules on filibustering in the Senate, and every returning Democrat has signed a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) in favor of that reform.<\/p>\n