It All Comes Back To The Filibuster

Sam Stein reports on House Dems being less than pleased with their Senate counterparts leaving literally hundreds of passed House bills untouched or rejected.

Appearing at a panel discussion at Netroots Nation , the lawmakers argued that the public was not discriminating in its anger with Congress' legislative inertia. And while a fair chunk of the Senate was immune from direct, electoral blowback, every member of the House would have to deal with the taint.

"They say the senate has a luxury of time, six-year cycles for elections," said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus. "But these last 18 months have, in memory, have not only been the most frustrating but the inertia created in the Senate is what is jeopardizing Democrats and progressives' opportunities in the midterms. It is not our lack of action. It has been their lack of action."

"I think [we] feel a frustration because my constituents don't necessarily distinguish between the House and the Senate," said Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). "And so when they see something not getting done they are not really tolerant of my argument which is, 'Well it passed the House.' That doesn't really wash. They hold us all accountable for the failure of these issues moving forward. I personally think the 60-vote requirement in the United States Senate is a bastardization of the United States constitution."

"It sucks," said Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), "and I mean it literally. It sucks the energy out of the room and it sucks the urgency out of what we do... The lack of urgency from the Senate on these jobs bill is soul-crushing." 

And it's House Democrats whose heads are on the chopping block here the most.  It really does all come back to the filibuster on a great many of these bills that would have easily passed with 51 but had to get over the 60 hurdle thanks to the Republicans filibustering everything.

Of course, the Senate has no intention of doing that.  It might mean those proles in the House might be able to, you know, direct the country through a simply majority vote of the people.

And the Senate can't have that.  They run this country, you know?  Where every member is President, it seems.