Washington, D.C. — Today Protect Democracy, with contributions from the Project on Government Oversight, the University of Chicago Center for Effective Government, and some of the leading experts on the filibuster, launched the Filibuster Reform Forum. Filibusters have become so common that yesterday the Senate voted on the 138th cloture petition filed this year.
The Filibuster Reform Forum will help people learn about different filibuster reform proposals with brief explanations in the same format. Senators, Senate staff, the press, and the public will have quick access to information about the strengths and limitations of different filibuster reform proposals.
Initial contributions include:
Targeted Exceptions presented by Molly Reynolds;
41 Votes to Continue Debate presented by Norman Ornstein;
Popular-Majoritarian Cloture Rule presented by Jonathan Gould, Kenneth Shepsle, and Matthew Stephenson;
Democracy Reconciliation presented by Mel Barnes and Norman Eisen; and
Sliding Scale presented by Sarah Binder.
Without advocating for a particular path, the Forum provides a space to compare the diversity of proposals for filibuster reform, as well as a space for Senators and scholars to contribute new proposals over time.
“The filibuster we see on the Senate floor today is not part of the Constitution and has changed dramatically from how it worked even a few decades ago,” said Cerin Lindgrensavage, counsel at Protect Democracy.“ Just as the Senate has refined the filibuster rules in the past, current reform proposals fit within this tradition of evolution. We want the Forum to help the public, the press, Senators, and their staff understand these proposals, and, ultimately, give the Senate a tool to figure out how it can better function as an institution.”
The Filibuster Reform Forum can be found at filibusterreform.org.