Independent Record: Tester pushing reforms to restrict filibuster
While the U.S. Senate is negotiating over solutions to avoid the “fiscal cliff” of spending cuts and taxes, it’s also wrestling with another thorny, contentious issue: Whether to reform the filibuster rules used by the minority to repeatedly block legislation.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is among those senators pushing far-reaching reforms that would restrict the filibuster, making it much harder for the minority to block legislation with procedural votes.
“A filibuster is supposed to be part of our system of checks and balances, but it’s abused to the point where we can’t even debate the important issues that Montanans expect us to address,” he said this week. “We weren’t sent to the Senate to debate about debating.”
