Open, Senate debate is preferable to backroom negotiations
(NEWSER) - The Senate is broken, writes Steven Pearlstein , its members so mired in dysfunction they don’t even realize how undemocratic current legislative practice is. The mere threat of a filibuster is enough to kill a bill, a fact that "violates the letter and spirit of the US Constitution." In the quest for the almighty 60 votes, health care legislation will be decided in back-room negotiations, not, as the forefathers intended, through open discourse. More»
