Senate "Gentlemen's Agreement" Is Over

As this session of the United States Senate started the Democrats considered changing the filibuster rules. This was because the Republicans abused the filibuster privilege by trying to use it to block everything the Democrats tried to do. They didn't even consider trying to compromise and come up with bills that most of both parties could accept. They just used the filibuster to kill everything they could.

But the Republicans promised to stop using the filibuster that way in this session. Minority Leader McConnell made a gentleman's agreement with Majority Leader Reid -- if the Democrats will allow the Republicans to submit amendments when they wanted, then the Republicans would stop abusing the filibuster so much. And the Democrats fell for it, thinking the Republicans could be trusted.

Well, some of the old guard Republicans might be willing to live up to that agreement, but the teabagger element (many of them new) are now demonstrating that they simply cannot be trusted -- not to compromise or to keep an agreement. Eight of these far-right senators have declared that they will filibuster every bill that they don't consider to be constitutional. At first glance that may sound reasonable, but it's not.

These senators are Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), John McCain (R-Arizona), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), John Ensign (R-Nevada), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). Coburn and DeMint have always been on the fringe of the right-wing, and McCain gets crazier with each passing day. Ensign has something to prove to the Nevada teabaggers so he can survive that state's next primary. The other four are died-in-the-wool teabaggers who feel no real allegiance to the Republican leadership.

Frankly, there is very little that this group considers to be constitutional. One or more of them have declared civil rights laws, disability rights laws, Medicare, Social Security, FEMA, food stamps, welfare, child labor laws, unemployment insurance, Pell grants & student loans, the Education Department and many other things to be unconstitutional. In other words, there is very little (if anything) they wouldn't be willing to filibuster.

So it looks like the silly "gentlemen's agreement" is over, and we're right back to where we were in the last Congress. Maybe someday the Democrats will wake up and realize that the Republicans just can't be trusted.