Cloture at 55

[Tom Rinaldo]

A sane and reasonable compromise for those in the Senate who believe it is important to preserve the relatively recent Senate tradition of requiring a super majority to conduct important "controversial" business; set the marker at 55. Not only is there nothing in the Constitution about a Senator's right to filibuster, there isn't even a long tradition of a 60 vote threshold to stop one. Not all that long ago the cloture mark was reset from 67 (or was it 66?) to 60 votes needed to close debate in the Senate. In the current partisan era of knee jerk oppositional voting to impede letting "the other guys" accomplish ANYTHING, that standard is obsolete.

Today in Presidential elections 55% of the vote is considered to be an overwhelming landslide for the victor. Needing more than 55% of the Senate to agree on closing debate is absurd. Minority rights would be more than adequately safeguarded if cloture was reset at a 55 vote limit. For those in the Senate who still believe that Senate filibusters can play a positive role, it is time to mend it before we force you to end it. We are fed up with petty filibuster despots like Joe Lieberman blocking the doorway to accomplishments.