Claire McCaskill is on the verge of introducing legislation to end this anti-democratic process.
In the Senate, every man or woman can be king.
Each can hold up a billion-dollar spending bill on a whim, or block one of the president’s nominees from ever getting a hearing.
Whether they’re in the majority or minority doesn’t matter. They also don’t even have to explain why. But the best part of all?
They never have to admit that they did it.
So blame Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri if pretty soon it’s just not as much fun as it used to be.
McCaskill, a first term Democrat, apparently has persuaded enough of her colleagues to back her effort to take the "secret" out of the Senate’s practice of secret holds.
If her bill gets to the floor, which is appearing more likely since every Democrat supports it, plus enough Republicans to grease passage, no senator would be able to block on a nomination or a piece of legislation without leaving fingerprints.
McCaskill cautioned that it was too early to start tossing confetti.
"We have 67 people who said they want to abolish the rule," she said. "Now we have to translate 67 people into 67 votes. I haven’t been here very long, but long enough to know this is going to be the hard part."
Indeed, she intends to continue her hunt for more supporters so she has "some wiggle room in case some senators get cold feet."
Senate watchers and open government advocates said that eliminating the secret holds would be a significant step toward reform… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <McClatchy DC>
I fully support McClatchy’s effort and urge you to do the same.
4 Responses to “End Senate ‘Secret Holds’”
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I hope she succeeds. This is a good Woman in my mind.
So do I Tim.
I never understood why you could place a ‘secret hold’ on anything you wanted without saying who you were. It’s a stupid rule and it needs to go. Thanks Claire!
Lisa, it’s a holdover from the days when, even in an emergency, it could take Senators weeks to reach the Capitol. The secret hold gave Senators a way to stop others from pushing something through as soon as a quorum was reached, but before many Senators arrived. It has outlived its utility.