Win One, Lose One (Two? Three? Four?)

After knuckling under to the ridiculous demands of the Republican minority on extending the Bush tax cuts to the ultra-rich ($250K+) filers -- tax cuts which are proven to have not added ONE single job to the working poor (or non-poor) in this country -- the Senate finally passed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

While I am very pleased that DADT is on the way to being gone (America finally joins 38 other countries around the world which do not discriminate!), I fear for my country when procedural bottlenecks like a minority in the U.S. Senate can hand the minority this huge tax-savings windfall.  Let us be clear here: this fight was mostly about the difference in the upper tax rate reverting to 39% as opposed to staying at the 35% rate.  Of course, that rate difference results in about $700 billion being added to the deficit at a time when the Republicans and their Tea Party "new blood" are haranguing against the deficit. It's interesting to see how the moneyed folks at the top can hold disparate ideas. Of course, the writing on the wall will be that these same folks will now come attacking Medicare and Social Security insisting that the deficit they have added to be reduced by cuts in these programs. Our "great society" gets a little less great.

Other  pending issues (passed by the House and awaiting action in the Senate) will likely see NO progress before the lame duck Congress goes home for their holiday break. Those issues include confirming the latest START treaty, the adoption of the DREAM act (a good start to approaching immigration reform), and passage of the medical coverage for 9/11 First Responders.

The Senate has ONE opportunity to modify the rules under which they operate. In particular, there is a relatively grass-roots movement afoot to address the rule which allows a minority (in the case of 100 Senators, 41) to block any vote. This used to be called "the nuclear option" (during the Bush years) and was rarely used by the Democratic minority in the years 2001 to 2006 but has become the means by which the "party of no" can stop ANY legislation from proceeding. This MUST be changed. (Of course, the footnote here is that some Democrats are concerned that should they become the minority then this blocking method is no longer available for them.) Senate rules can be changed ONLY on the first day of the new Senate class (every two years) and it would reasonable that this rule be revisited, if necessary, in each new session. The Senate, by and large, operates as the world's most elite "boys club", steeped in tradition and antiquated rules and procedures that have more to do with a time when the Senator commuted to and from Washington by horseback than by air. It's time to let a little modernization in folks!