Opinion: History On The Senate Floor
Last week, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Minority Leader in the Senate, did the stupidest thing any Senate Leader has done in the history of the Senate.
McConnell filibustered a bill he supported, within a minute of introducing the legislation.
In 2011 McConnell advocated for a change to the management of the debt ceiling, something that would be highly beneficial to our economy. His suggestion was that the President be given the authority to raise the debt ceiling and that it would take a two-thirds supermajority in the House and the Senate to override the President's authority.
While it is dubious that the debt ceiling is Constitutional -- the 14th Amendment demands that the President meet all obligation the U.S. Government has incurred through Congressional authorization -- this action would give greater certainty to borrowers that the U.S. backed its debt with the full faith and credit of the United States.
That full faith and credit promise is the reason that the U.S. dollar was for so long the unrivaled lead currency in the world and our markets the destination of the greatest volume of trade globally.
The President has since agreed with McConnell that his idea is a good one.
But McConnell believed that Senate Democrats would not go along with the plan, so he offered his bill on the Senate floor.
He was not anticipating that Majority Leader Harry Reid would agree to a vote. But Reid and the Democrats did agree to a vote needing only a 50 vote majority.
McConnell immediately folded and filibustered his own bill within a minute of asking to put it to a vote.
As Harry Reid put it, Republicans do not know how to "take yes for an answer."
Talk about being for something before you are against it.
McConnell's actions are truly the actions of a brain dead leader of a brain dead party.
About Bill Buck
Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
