The Founding Fathers intended that the House would represent the people and the Senate would represent the states. The Constitution established a few instances that demanded a “super majority” or two-thirds of the Senate (or in some cases, the House) – including convictions in Impeachments, amendments to the Constitution, expulsion of a member, overriding a presidential veto, and, with the 25th amendment, ruling on the disability of the President.
BY JOHN SHAFFER If one were to ask a dozen people what the biggest problem facing our federal government, one may get a dozen different answers. After this weekend’s “Schumer Shutdown,” perhaps a few of those hypothetical folks would say “the Senate rules.” That may not be the biggest problem, but it is a good place to start, since the Senate rules prevent us from taking action that would address many of the other problems. The majority of the US House voted in favor of a budget, and so did the majority of the Senate – but because of a “60-vote” requirement (variously referred to as the “Byrd Rule,” The “Daschle Rule,” or the “Reid Rule”) that majority wasn’t big enough. The Founding Fathers intended that the House would represent the people and the Senate would represent the states. The Constitution established a few instances that demanded a “super majority” or two-thirds of the Senate (or in some cases, the House) – including convictions in Impeachments, amendments to the Constitution, expulsion of a member, overriding a presidential veto, and, with the 25th amendment, ruling on the disability of the President. However, the Constitution does not require a supermajority for routine legislation, nor for budgetary matters. The Senate rules do – those three mentioned above all require three-fifths of the Senate (or 60 votes) in various circumstances. This requirement never seems to prevent passing bad legislation, but it surely prevents the removal of bad legislation. Although the Constitution does allow each legislative body to set its own rules, the 60-vote rules are contrary to the intent of the Founders, and as long as the Senate keeps those 60-vote requirements (which it could end, ironically enough, by a simple majority) we will have “minority rule” in the Senate, gridlock in Congress, and extreme difficulty in undoing the many mistakes Congresses are prone to make.
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