Stevenson’s army, January 19

I think the media are misunderstanding the Democratic efforts to get around the filibuster of voting rights bills. Leader Schumer reportedly plans to force a “talking filibuster” to exhaust opponents and thus allow a majority vote to pass the measures. News reports say that will fail because Senators Manchin and Sinema oppose modifying the rule currently requiring 60 votes to end debate. I think there are interim steps that could be sucessful and may be the Schumer plan. [I could be wrong; Schumer is not as skilled at parliamentary procedures as some of his predecessors and he lacks any margin for defections in the 50/50  Senate]

Schumer may try and fail to change the rules by saying voting rights measures aren’t subject to the filibuster. But he then can let debate continue and strictly enforce the two-speech rule until no opponents have the right for additional speeches. This hasn’t been done in recent decades because it takes too many days, even weeks, when nothing else could be considered. And the rules still allow for numerous obstructive actions — motions to adjourn, to prove a quorum, etc. What Schumer may need Manchin and Sinema for is an interpretation of what constitutes two speeches, and they might support restrictive interpretations since that doesn’t change the underlying rule.

[Background: Rule XIX allows only two speeches on any measure on a legislative day, which can last for weeks  until there is a formal adjournment, not recess. See pp. 781-785 of Riddick’s Senate Procedure, and also  282ff on cloture. Those pages show a lot of confusion over what constitutes a speech, but that could be settled by a ruling of the chair and a sustained point of order. If dilatory measures are not allowed, then maybe the opponents would give up after prolonged debate. There’s a lot more on congressional practice  in a 1993 report by a joint committee seeking reforms.]

– In other news, WSJ  says US may sanction Russian agents in Ukraine.

-Jake Sullivan gives FP an extended defense of Biden foreign policy.

-Some commentators see important messages in President Xi’s speech to the virtual Davos conference.

-As President Biden finishes his first year in office he has scheduled a rare 4pm news conference and many writers are weighing in with their assessments. We’ll do our own in class in week 3.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).