The "nuclear option" for the Senate after 2012.

[bornskeptic]

15. Budget reconciliation was only used to pass modifications to the bill

which had been passed originally during the brief period when there were 60 Democrats and allied Independents. Budget Reconciliation could never have been used to pass the bill otherwise. It can only be used in very limited circumstances, and only once a year. The other major pieces of legislation passed since Obama was President, the ARRA and Dodd-Frank, were only possible because the Democrats had just short of a 60-vote supermajority and managed to get one or two Republicans to break ranks. There's no prospect of comparable success in the next four years if the abomination called the filibuster remains in place. There will be no comprehensive immigration reform, no significant infrastructure investment, and no attempt to deal with climate change, and dozens of federal judicial and administrative positions will continue to be unfilled. The filibuster is, and always was, the friend of those who oppose progress and hate government.