Washington Post: The Gangs of D.C.
| By Mike Collins - Aug 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am EDT |
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Categories: Equality / Civil Rights, Peace & Social Justice, Foreign Policy & Security, Economic Fairness & Security, Environment / Conservation, Smart Energy Policy, Public Infrastructure / Transportation, Effective & Ethical Government, Electoral Reform, Affordable Healthcare, Education, Consumer and Worker Protection, Property Rights, Separation of Powers / Federalism, Media Accountability, Research & Technology, Corporate Accountability / Workers' Rights, Crime & Penal Reform, Budget Priorities, Religion, Immigration, Reproductive Rights
Categories: Equality / Civil Rights, Peace & Social Justice, Foreign Policy & Security, Economic Fairness & Security, Environment / Conservation, Smart Energy Policy, Public Infrastructure / Transportation, Effective & Ethical Government, Electoral Reform, Affordable Healthcare, Education, Consumer and Worker Protection, Property Rights, Separation of Powers / Federalism, Media Accountability, Research & Technology, Corporate Accountability / Workers' Rights, Crime & Penal Reform, Budget Priorities, Religion, Immigration, Reproductive Rights
Colorado has a House power ratio of .016 (7 members of 435) a Senate power ratio of .04, equal to all the other 49 states. Seemingly insignificant unless you look at Wyoming's House power ratio of .002. Getting rid of the filibuster might be a giant step in the right direction. If majority rule works in the house, surely it should be applied in the senate.
"Add the rise of the filibuster and the fact that small-state senators tend to stick around longer, gaining powerful chairmanships under the seniority system, and you've got today's change-resistant Senate." MC
The Gangs of D.C.
In the Senate, Small States Wield Outsize Power. Is This What the Founders Had in Mind?
By Alec MacGillis
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Wonder why President Obama is having a hard time enacting his agenda after sweeping to victory and with large congressional majorities on his side?
Look to the Senate, the chamber designed to thwart popular will.
There is much grousing on the left about the filibuster, the threat of which has taken such hold that routine bills now need 60 votes. Getting less attention is the undemocratic character of the Senate itself.
Why, for example, have even Democratic senators been resistant on health-care reform? It might be because so many of the key players represent so few of the voters who carried Obama to victory -- and so few of the nation's uninsured. The Senate Finance Committee's "Gang of Six" that is drafting health-care legislation that may shape the final deal -- without a public insurance option -- represents six states that are among the least populous in the country: Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Maine, New Mexico and Iowa.
Between them, those six states hold 8.4 million people -- less than New Jersey -- and represent 3 percent of the U.S. population. North Dakota and Wyoming each have fewer than 80,000 uninsured people, in a country where about 47 million lack insurance. In the House, those six states have 13 seats out of 435, 3 percent of the whole. In the Senate, those six members are crafting what may well be the blueprint for reform.
More at the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080702045.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
"Add the rise of the filibuster and the fact that small-state senators tend to stick around longer, gaining powerful chairmanships under the seniority system, and you've got today's change-resistant Senate." MC
The Gangs of D.C.
In the Senate, Small States Wield Outsize Power. Is This What the Founders Had in Mind?
By Alec MacGillis
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Wonder why President Obama is having a hard time enacting his agenda after sweeping to victory and with large congressional majorities on his side?
Look to the Senate, the chamber designed to thwart popular will.
There is much grousing on the left about the filibuster, the threat of which has taken such hold that routine bills now need 60 votes. Getting less attention is the undemocratic character of the Senate itself.
Why, for example, have even Democratic senators been resistant on health-care reform? It might be because so many of the key players represent so few of the voters who carried Obama to victory -- and so few of the nation's uninsured. The Senate Finance Committee's "Gang of Six" that is drafting health-care legislation that may shape the final deal -- without a public insurance option -- represents six states that are among the least populous in the country: Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Maine, New Mexico and Iowa.
Between them, those six states hold 8.4 million people -- less than New Jersey -- and represent 3 percent of the U.S. population. North Dakota and Wyoming each have fewer than 80,000 uninsured people, in a country where about 47 million lack insurance. In the House, those six states have 13 seats out of 435, 3 percent of the whole. In the Senate, those six members are crafting what may well be the blueprint for reform.
More at the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/07/AR2009080702045.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
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