A proposal to reform the U.S. Senate rules was introduced Jan. 5, the first day of the new Congress. CWA and more than 50 other organizations, including the League of Women Voters, have been working for months to improve the way the Senate works.

CWA and coalition members gathered nearly 200,000 petition signatures and made more than 25,000 phone calls to congressional offices, calling for changes to end partisan obstruction and bring about transparency and accountability in the Senate.

Democratic Senators Tom Harkin (IA), Tom Udall (NM) and Jeff Merkley (OR) introduced a package of rules reform that goes a long way to improving the way the Senate works, and Senator Mark Udall (CO) introduced a similar resolution. The package would:

• Eliminate the Filibuster on Motions to Proceed, so there is a clear path to debate.
• Eliminate Secret Holds, so that a single senator can’t abuse the rules to block the people’s business.
• Require a Real, Talking Filibuster. That means senators opposed to proceeding to a final “yes or no” vote on a measure must stay on the Senate floor and defend their position.
• Expedite Nominations by reducing the time allowed for debate to two hours after the Senate already has voted to move forward. Right now, debate can continue for 30 hours.
• Allow consideration of germane amendments for both the majority and minority.

In his floor remarks, Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “no one can credibly claim problems don’t exist. No one who has watched this body operate since the current minority took office can say it functions just fine. That wouldn’t be true.”

On a news teleconference with Common Cause, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Alliance for Justice, CWA President Larry Cohen outlined why reform is critical: “The U.S. Senate operates in a way not like any other body in any democracy in the world. This change will make a huge difference in the democratic process and in the lives of working families.”