OR-Sen: Jeff Merkley (D) & Democracy For America Team Up To Renew Call For Filibuster Reform

DailyKos:

Received two e-mails today regarding filibuster reform.  The first one was from Senator Jeff Merkley (D. OR):

In January, the Senate passed some modest bipartisan rules reforms in hopes that the Senate could finally make progress on important matters. It's now clear the experiment has failed. The Senate remains broken.  Senate Republicans continue to force delays – even on bills with overwhelming public support, and even on nominees widely considered well-qualified. Please join me and Democracy for America – and put yourself on record at www.FixTheFilibuster.com: We can’t wait any longer to make the Senate work. http://www.reformthefilibuster.com/...

My idea’s simple: The filibuster should be about debate, not obstruction. If Senators want to slow things down and block up-or-down votes, they should be required to actually take the floor and talk. The American people can then decide – are those Senators heroes, or bums? And once they’re done talking, it’s over. And America gets a regular, up-or-down, 51-votes-wins vote. The Senate is badly broken, and it's not going to get better by wishful thinking or handshake deals. We can change this – but only if the American people insist on a Senate that works. Please sign my petition right now, and together with the Democracy for America community, let’s tell the Senate to finally fix the filibuster. http://www.reformthefilibuster.com/... It’s time to get to work. Senator Jeff Merkley

You can sign Merkley's petition here: http://www.reformthefilibuster.com/... The second e-mail I received was from Democracy For America: Remember watching the Senate vote to crush gun violence legislation? It was horrible -- but Republicans were jumping for joy. Mitch McConnell even made a joke about it on his Facebook page.

The thing is -- gun violence legislation is just the latest victim to the Republican's obscene misuse of the filibuster. The Senate's bipartisan filibuster "reform" package has failed miserably. It's time for real reform. It's time to change the rules to reinstate the talking filibuster.

Join DFA and Senator Jeff Merkley in Fixing the Filibuster -- sign our petition now: http://www.reformthefilibuster.com/... Just how broken is the Senate because of Republican extremists? They're blocking so many judicial nominees that court vacancies have caused a judicial "crisis," according to The Washington Post, Politico, and the Huffington Post. They embarked on the first-ever filibuster of a Defense Secretary -- only because Chuck Hagel once said something critical of George Bush. (No, really. John McCain went on television and said that was the reason.) And let's not forget the time that Mitch McConnell introduced a bill to the floor to embarrass Democrats -- and then filibustered his own bill to waste time. Let's be honest here: Republicans don't want to govern. They just want to stop Democrats from governing. There should be no doubt that we need filibuster reform -- and we need it now. Sign the petition to Fix the Filibuster: http://www.reformthefilibuster.com/... Thank you for all that you do. - Michael Michael Langenmayr, Political Director Democracy for America

You can sign DFA's petition here: http://www.reformthefilibuster.com/... Glad to see Merkley and DFA team up for fixing the filibuster.  This is one of several reasons why we need to keep Merkley in the Senate.  You can donate to his 2014 re-election campaign here:

https://secure.actblue.com/...

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