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Article first published as Democrats Take up the Good Fight to Reform the Senate on Technorati.
With polls showing an 83% disapproval rating, few people would argue that the Congress isn’t broken. Fewer still would not assign a great deal of blame on a completely dysfunctional Senate. With more than 400 pieces of legislation passed by the House only to die in the Senate of the 111th Congress, the more “deliberative body” has truly become a haven for obstructionism. But that might all change if Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) succeeds in his attempt to reform the filibuster.
In response to a Senate minority that has utterly corrupted the use of the filibuster, Senator Udall, along with fellow Democratic Senators, Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), and Michael Bennet (Colo.), are leading the way to bring back some form of integrity to this aged parliamentary procedure.
Not mentioned in the Constitution, the filibuster is the product of senatorial rule changes established in 1806 that removed the motion “to move the previous question” and effectively eliminated any ability to end debate on an issue and move to a vote. Yet, even once the potential for filibuster existed, it wasn’t until 1837 that the procedure was first used, and its use remained infrequent for decades.
In 1917, the Senate changed its rules again and created a means to end a filibuster; by invoking cloture, the motion to end debate would be subject to passage by a two-thirds majority vote. Under these rules, the filibuster remained a powerful yet seldom used maneuver that resulted in only 56 filings of cloture through the end of the 91st Congress in 1970.
But starting with the 92nd Congress, things began to change and cloture was filed 23 times during that Senate alone. With 44 filings in the subsequent Senate, it became clear that what was once a rare procedural maneuver was becoming a mainstay for the Senate minority. This led to another rule change in 1975 that redefined the super-majority needed to end a filibuster, setting it at three-fifths — the 60 votes required today.
While use of the filibuster had become more frequent, it wasn’t until the past two Congresses that use was turned to abuse. Cloture filings averaged only 36.4 for each Congress from 1971 through 1990, and started ramping up with the Republican minority of the 102nd Congress, but still averaged only 51.5 from 1971 through 2006. Starting in 2007, with the 110th Congress, complete and utter obstruction was introduced and the tyranny of the minority began.
Viewed historically as a means to ensure that major issues were given a full and fair hearing, the contemporary corruption of the filibuster process has led instead to complete obstruction and the inability of the Senate to conduct even the most routine business. The Republican minorities of the 110th and 111th Congress made the filibuster standard operating procedure, using the procedure to block anything and everything, with no other goal than to impede progress.
In total, there were an unprecedented 275 motions for cloture filed in response to the filibusters of the past two Republican minorities. That’s more filings than occurred during the first 67 years of the motion’s existence. Such absurd levels of obstruction have nothing to do with governing. As is evidenced by the many successful cloture votes that were followed by easy passage of the bill, the new SOP for the GOP is all about delay —about bringing government to a standstill. Why else would the extension to unemployment benefits in late 2009 that survived back-to-back filibusters be passed by the Senate without opposition, 98-0? Or what about the filibuster of Fourth Circuit nominee Barbara Keenan that was eventually broken with a cloture vote of 99-0?
Fortunately for the American people, the Republican minority’s rampant abuse of the filibuster has caused such frustration that the backlash may result in real reform. In a Dec. 18 letter to Majority Leader Reid that was signed by all Democratic senators remaining in the Congress that opens Jan. 5, the majority stated, “We believe the current abuse of the rules by the minority threatens the ability of the Senate to do the necessary work of the nation, and we urge you to take steps to bring these abuses of our rules to an end.”
Senators Udall and Merkley are promoting the use of the “constitutional option” to effect the changes they seek. Using this procedure, the Democrats will be able to change the rules of the Senate with a simple majority vote, but according to many experts, they can do so only on the first day of the new Congress. It’s true that some experts disagree with this assessment and suggest that the majority could effect change at a later date, but there’s little doubt that such a move would be filibustered, so Senator Udall is pushing for the change to occur on Jan. 5.
The reform package being circulated would not end the filibuster, or even change the cloture requirements for a three-fifths majority, but it does include several smart changes that promise to restore credibility to the process. First and foremost, the changes would put an end to the purely procedural threat to filibuster by requiring that 40 senators vote to invoke a filibuster. This would replace the present requirement that the majority leader file a cloture motion to overcome an anonymous objection to a motion to proceed. The package would also require a “standing filibuster” — in the form of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the filibustering senator would have to remain on the floor to sustain it.
Other changes being considered include: limiting filibusters to only one per bill — under present rules, many bills are filibustered multiple times, starting with the decision to begin debate, followed by another filibuster on each amendment, and followed by still another filibuster before a final vote; another proposal would shorten the time for debate once cloture is invoked, which is presently set to at least 30 hours; and although it’s not filibuster specific, there appears to be significant support for the elimination of the “secret hold,” a ridiculous practice that enables a single senator to block nominations and legislation — anonymously.
Whether or not any of these changes will come to pass remains to be seen. There’s no doubt that the Republicans will fight these proposals with everything they have, but fortunately, they have very little. The sole opposition argument is something to the effect of “you won’t like this when you’re in the minority.” Republican Senator, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee stated the opposition’s case most succinctly, “Even if Democrats were to change the rules, they will gain nothing except the prospect of retribution in two years while destroying the Senate.” Such rare honesty is to be commended, but it should not in any way temper the complete rejection of the notion that enabling the Senate to perform the duties for which it exists is somehow destructive to the institution.
Contemporary Democrats don’t have much credibility when it comes to standing up against Republican bluster. They are more prone to meet aggression with compromise. As always, the American people can help this situation by contacting their senators and urging their support for reform. They can also sign-on to help Fix the Senate Now. This is “Change We Need.” It’s the good fight for the Democrats, and if the unanimous signing of their letter is any sign, we just might have that rare set of circumstances that embolden people to do what’s right, instead of what’s easy.
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Article first published as American Corporations are all About Profits – Not People on Technorati.
Have you heard the news that corporate profits hit an all-time high this past quarter? That’s right, with unemployment stuck near double digits and the wages of American workers continuing to fall, American businesses racked up profits at an annualized rate of $1.66 trillion.
So, even though they themselves may be hurting, shouldn’t patriotic Americans cheer these profits? After all, we have a huge federal budget deficit, and at least the tax revenues from these huge profits will improve the shortfall, right?
Wrong. The sad truth is that American corporations aren’t all that American, and they’re certainly not patriotic. General Electric, fourth on the Fortune 500, had an excellent year in 2009, making profits of $10.3 billion. Their U.S. tax bill? Uncle Sam owed them $1.1 billion. How does that happen?
Well, somewhere in their 24,000 page tax return are the details of how they consistently manage to make serious profits overseas but lose money in the U.S..
A similar story applies to Exxon Mobile, our nation’s most profitable company. Their profits for tax year 2008 climbed to a record high of $42.5 billion — the most ever for an American company. They did wind up having to pay $15 billion in income taxes, but unfortunately for Americans, none of that money was paid to the IRS. Exxon’s U.S. tax bill was a whopping zero dollars.
Sadly, these companies are anything but alone in their ability to exploit tax loopholes and dodge paying U.S. taxes. In fact, a 2008 study prepared by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that two out of three American corporations paid ZERO, zip, nada in federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005.
Unlike average Americans, corporations enjoy considerable flexibility in both operations and the resulting tax treatment. Exxon, for example, has several wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that allow them to legally shelter cash flow. Other corporations, like Google, who was recently able to reduce its effective tax rate to just 2.4%, accomplish their magic by shuffling income through foreign countries using well-known tax strategies like the “Double Irish” or “Dutch Sandwich.”
Google’s use of the “Double Irish” maneuver depends on shifting non-U.S. sales to its Dublin office — 88% of its $12.5 billion in 2009. This technique is also used by others, like Microsoft, and requires that they have two Irish companies (hence the “double”) where one pays royalties to the other which collects the proceeds in a tax haven, like Bermuda.
Make no mistake about it, the use of tax havens is commonplace in corporate America. Another GAO study reported that 83 of the 100 largest American companies have subsidiaries in tax havens. It’s estimated that through the use of such havens, corporations and wealthy individuals are able to evade more than $100 billion in U.S. taxes every year. ATT, GE, IBM, Chevron, they all participate in the dodge.
Even those companies with government contracts, like Boeing, and those who took government bailout money, like AIG, GM, Goldman Sachs and Citicorp play the game. The truth is that the evasion occurs on such a grand scale that 18,000 companies share a single address in the Cayman Islands, a popular haven because of its lack of any corporate or capital gains tax.
What should be done about all of this? Some people advocate the closing of loopholes to prevent such activities. Others suggest that completely eliminating corporate taxes and treating corporate profits as the individual income of its shareholders would be a superior remedy. But whatever the solution, the core truth of the situation remains evident — 21st Century corporations have no nationality.
Like it or not, we now live in a global economy. Billions of dollars in U.S. tax revenue is being hidden in foreign banks, and millions of American jobs have been offshored to foreign workers. American corporate profits are at an all-time high even while huge numbers of Americans are suffering. The sad truth is that American corporations have but one loyalty, and it’s not to our nation, nor is it to the American people; they are singularly focused on profits, and their only loyalty is to their shareholders.
There’s nothing really wrong with this specific truth. Corporations are legal fictions created for the purpose of making money. They are rightfully focused solely on profits. But there is something seriously wrong with assigning to these artificial entities the rights associated with being a person.
This is exactly what the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) did in its decision on Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission. In conferring personhood upon corporations and assigning full First Amendment protections for free speech, the SCOTUS not only made it perfectly legal for companies to lie but also opened a Pandora’s Box of election campaign abuse.
At a time when deep-pocketed corporations already control both political parties, and the cost of Campaign 2010 would hit nearly $4 billion — with Americans fighting to take their country back from the special interests, the Citizens United decision unleashed another $180 million in campaign ads, with $120 million coming from undisclosed sources.
Because of the SCOTUS decision, corporations, even those with significant foreign ownership, now have the power to directly influence American elections. How this can be a positive for our nation is a mystery. The Founding Fathers were certainly not advocates of such corporate power. They fully understood the truth expressed by Justice John Paul Stevens, in his dissenting opinion: “the corporation must engage the electoral process with the aim to enhance the profitability of the company, no matter how persuasive the argument for a broader or conflicting set of priorities.”
Corporations are not people, and what’s good for one is not necessarily good for the other. The Citizens United decision is an abomination upon the American system of government that runs counter to the ideal of one-person-one-vote. It virtually ensures that American corporations will continue to evade paying U.S. income tax while stoking profits with cheap foreign labor. It corrupts the very core of our founding and ensures that a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” will indeed perish from the Earth.
If you are a patriot, if you love your country and care about democracy, you’ll agree that, left or right, our government belongs to The People. Please raise your voice and say NO to the sale of our democracy — join your fellow Americans in ending corporate rule and Move to Amend.
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Article first published as Prostituted Government, America up for Sale on Technorati.
Baby Boomers are likely to remember the words spoken by John F. Kennedy during his inaugural address.
The youngest man ever elected president took office and wasted no time in reminding the American people of how different the world had become and of the responsibility placed upon our great nation. He pulled no punches in identifying the true enemies of humanity: “tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.” And he concluded his speech with both a commitment to the task at hand and an admonishment for all Americans: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
What would be the reaction today to a president asking for such patriotism? Yet in 1961, JFK’s call to unity and selflessness was arguably the hallmark of his address. His were words that could well have been spoken by Jefferson or Adams, even by Patrick Henry himself. How sad it is that things have changed so, in less than 50 years.
President Kennedy spoke out of love and respect for a nation built on high moral principles. He spoke of a nation that held the power to “abolish all forms of human poverty.” He called on all Americans to join him in the fight . . . and America responded with dedication and applause.
Today, the tables have turned. Americans don’t ask what they can do for their country; they don’t even see poverty as a mutual enemy. The new prescription for prosperity in America is not to fight tyranny and band together for the common good — it’s a call to social Darwinism, to every person for themselves. Fifty years ago the predominant mindset was one of abundance, where through unity we could achieve anything. Today, America is figuratively much smaller and weaker. The grand vision is all but lost. The belief is now in scarcity and a sense that only the few can truly prosper.
This change in paradigm has nothing to do with inevitability. It was and still is completely avoidable. The sad truth is that Americans have been sold a bad bill of goods wrapped in the trappings of good business. We sit now in the most dire economic straits in nearly a century, and instead of pulling together to fight our common foes, we’re allowing ourselves to be divided by those who benefit from our lack of unity.
Thomas Jefferson once said that, “Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.” This truth has been long understood and accepted, yet this is exactly what we, the American people, have allowed to happen in our country. The unity of the Kennedy era has been lost to the government-is-the-enemy doctrine espoused by Ronald Reagan and movement conservatism.
The 21st Century American political system thrives on a state of dynamic tension where the two sides debate the same issues ad nauseam. Never reaching resolution, this ebb and flow produces, at best, incremental change, and in the end is essentially a lesson in futility. The structure is based on a two-party, zero sum shouting match where the only people who win are those who benefit from maintaining the status quo.
What’s needed is an alternative to this Sisyphean drama. We need real progress. We need a return to morality in politics, where money is confined as the currency of our capitalism and not of our democracy. Sadly, what we have instead is a near complete departure from anything of the sort.
Not only does truth in politics seem to be at an all-time low, but with the Supreme Court’s ruling on “Citizens United,” where corporations were granted personhood, the stream of falsehood and mudslinging deceit is so constant as to be virtually inescapable. America is now the great political prostitute of the planet, with more money being spent to buy votes through misinformation than at any time in any place. Hurray for America!
Is this really the political process that the American people want? Is there any way that this caricature of democracy can lead to a government “of the people, by the people and for the people?”
This new dynamic has no place in the American political system. The Founding Fathers perceived the evils of corporate greed and did everything they could to ensure that the democracy could withstand their siege. Thomas Jefferson warned us of their thirst for control, “I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” But modern conservatism has ignored his warning.
The conservative court’s decision that corporations are people has created a situation where, not only are vast sums of money being spent by corporate interests to influence the 2010 election, but the American electorate isn’t even afforded the right to know who’s behind the spending.
Under their new found freedom to influence elections, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending record amounts of money. Where their total for the 2008 elections was a mere $33.5 million, they promise to spend $75 million in 2010. And not only is the Chamber raising record amounts for its campaign spending from U.S. corporations, like Prudential Financial, Dow Chemical, A.I.G., Goldman Sachs and Chevron Texaco, but they’re bringing in huge amounts from foreign companies who have a stake in American jobs, trade policies and tax regulations.
Of course, it’s easy to understand why the Republicans in the Senate fought to defeat the Disclose Act, which would have required disclosure of funding sources, since the vast majority of the corporate money is going to either support Republican candidates or defeat Democrats — a full 93% of the Chamber’s 70 ads, according to the New York Times. This statistic might help explain why only 10% of groups running ads in support of Republicans have revealed their funding sources, while 50% of Democratic supporters have.
Regardless of the outcome, it’s too late for the 2010 election. American politics has fallen into an abyss of moral decay. Monied interests are so firmly in control of the process and the tyranny of the elite is so prevalent that both Kennedy and Jefferson have to be turning in their graves. Tea Party patriots, as misguided as they may be, have the right idea — the American people need to take their country back. Hopefully, between now and the 2012 election, they’ll figure out that the government is not the enemy, and that it’s actually the instrument of their collective will.
One person, one vote — that was the intent. That is the only system that can work, and it can only be sustained through an informed, not misinformed electorate. Let us all hope that we might return to the high moral principles of our past, of our founding. Let us understand once again that we are One Nation, One People – E Pluribus Unum.
