Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) is signaling that Democrats may revisit filibuster reform in the wake of high-profile Republican filibusters including the Chuck Hagel nomination, the plan to avert sequestration and the judicial nomination of Caitlin Halligan.
On the Senate floor Wednesday, Durbin said the existing rules change agreement doesn’t seem to be working.
“I hate to suggest this, but if this is an indication of where we’re headed, we need to revisit the rules again,” he said. “We need to go back to them again. I’m sorry to say it because I was hopeful that a bipartisan approach to dealing with these issues would work. It is the best thing for this chamber, for the people serving here and for the history of this institution. But if this Caitlin Halligan [filibuster] is an indication of things to come, we’ve got to revisit the rules. If we are now going to filibuster based on such weak arguments, then I think we need to revisit the rules.”
