Finally!

One of the under-reported stories of this Congress is Republican control of the Senate.

What, you may think. Didn't the Democrats get a majority in November? Wasn't that a big upset, and quite the story? Well, yes.

But in the modern Senate, a simple majority can't do squat. And if fact, for quite some time now, votes have been taken where the interests of the majority of Senators have amounted to nothing, thanks to the Republicans. Under the current rules of the Senate, it's trivial for the minority to require that any issue get not 50, but 60 votes before it can be put to a vote. In recent years, rather than returning a bill to continued debate, the practical effect of a failure to get 60 votes has been to kill a bill, forcing it to be withdrawn or sent into limbo.

Unlike in the old days, when a filibuster meant Mr. Smith Goes To Washington style drama, nowadays a filibuster takes next to no effort on the part of the minority, and often merely announcing an intention to filibuster is enough to get a bill shut down. Blocking legislation requires no discomfort for the minority.

From Chris Bowers via Digby, a short list of blocked legislation:

1. January 17, Reid Amendment to Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007: a bill to provide greater transparency in the legislative process.
2. January 24, Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007: a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage.
3. February 5, A bill to express the sense of Congress on Iraq: disapproving of the troop escalation in Iraq.
4. February 17, A bill to express the sense of Congress on Iraq: disapproving of the troop escalation in Iraq (again).
5. April 17, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007: an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Intelligence Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes.
6. April 18, Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007: a bill to amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for fair prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.
7. June 11, No confidence vote on Alberto Gonzales: a joint resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people.
8. June 21, Baucus Amendment to CLEAN Energy Act of 2007: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for energy advancement and investment, and for other purposes.
9. June 26, Employee Free Choice Act of 2007: A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.
10. July 11, Webb Amendment to the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2008: to specify minimum periods between deployment of units and members of the Armed Forces for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Now, Senate Majority Leader Reid has finally acted to do something about this pattern.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are planning an all-night session Tuesday, daring Republicans to engage in an old-fashioned filibuster over Iraq troop withdrawals rather than just threatening one.

The tactic was unlikely to deliver the 60-vote supermajority that war critics need to bypass procedural hurdles and amend a defense authorization bill so that it would require withdrawing combat troop in four months.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday that a little late-night drama might focus more public attention on why the new Democratic majority still hadn't enacted binding antiwar legislation as it had campaigned to do.

"If Republicans insist on blocking a change of course in Iraq, Democrats will give them the opportunity to explain this, lots of opportunity to explain this," Reid said. "We are going to have votes during the night. We're not going to let everybody go home and have a good night's rest."

In the Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, the minority party can slow or block the passage of controversial bills through the threat of endless debate, known as a filibuster. If the minority insists, the party in power needs 60 of 100 votes rather than a simple majority to cut off that debate and move to a final vote.

I like this tactic, but what I don’t see is the full-court-press of Democratic legislators and spokespeople all over the media explaining it, and framing it into a predigested narrative for the press to transcribe.

Without that effort, it’s a huge waste of time. Already the media that is covering it is portraying it as some kind of weird Democratic stunt involving some niggling rule, playing right into the meme that the Dems are incompetent and would rather fuss around than Get Things Done.

So, instead of dramatizing the lengths Dems need to go to in order to overcome Republican obstruction, it just feeds the “Congress is dithering” storyline.

When will Congressional Democrats learn basic message management skills? Where are the framing soundbites? Where are the spokespeople on the Today Show? Where are the wingmen out complaining about Republican opposition to an up-or-down vote? Why wasn’t this stunt scheduled over the recent Webb Amendment, which would require more home recover time for our troops, and make the R’s explain why we couldn’t give our fighting men and women time off from Iraq?

Sometimes, 'not belonging to an organized political party' is really, really frustrating. It's good that they are doing this, but it could have been, and should have been, much more.