Tuesday morning a deal was reached in the Senate that will allow seven Obama nominees to be confirmed, and the filibuster reform conversation will go on the shelf for another day. While the Senate has been debating filibuster reform for decades, the likelihood of reform remains low because it is an essential part of the soul of the Senate.
“It goes back to the basic question, whom does the Senate represent?” Richard Baker, who served as the Senate’s first historian, said on Tuesday’s show. “The House represents the people, the Senate represents the states.” The filibuster gives power to the minority point of view; without that, some say the Senate would become the House. “If you were to take the 26 smallest states which would provide a 52 hold majority, they add up to 16% of the nation’s population,” Baker said. “Is that the kind of Senate that we want?”