I have no doubt that if the Republicans were in the majority in the Senate with 59 votes, they would have found a way to end Democratic filibuster threats. I recall that when the Republicans were threatening to filibuster in the voting on U.S. Supreme and District Court justices, there was talk of using existing Senate rules to end filibusters through a “nuclear option” which no one on either side of the aisle wanted.
That option involved declaring the filibuster unconstitutional which can be decided by a simple majority. My recommendation would be to bring on the filibusters now and make the Republicans debate 24 hours a day for as many weeks as are necessary before they give up.
These Republican senators standing in the way of an orderly majority rule process will find that some of their colleagues, either out of fear of losing the November election or out of conscience, will buckle and vote for cloture and even a change in rules, substantially reducing the current 60 votes required.
I believe that the Democratic Party will suffer a severe drubbing if, between now and November, it is unable to enact desperately needed legislation required to address the major needs of our country, including jobs and other economic measures.
© 2012 Newsmax. All rights reserved.