3/1/2010 - Congresswoman Chellie Pingree calls on Senate to end "silent filibuster"
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree calls on Senate to end "silent
filibuster"
Pingree
says Senate standing in the way of important provisions to support America's
families, veterans, small business and crack down on Wall Street
March 1,
2010
For immediate release
Contact: Willy Ritch 207-841-8400
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree has begun circulating a letter among her House
colleagues calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to end the "silent
filibuster" that allows a minority of Senators to easily block important
legislation.
"If a group of Senators wants to block legislation that helps provide jobs for
wounded veterans or cracks down on predatory lending practices of big banks,
they should be forced to do it in the light of day," Pingree said. "The
American people deserve to see these important issues debated openly and not
silently blocked."
Traditionally a filibuster required that Senators who opposed a bill to debate
the issue openly on the floor of the Senate. In order to block a bill from
coming to a vote they would be required to keep debating-"filibustering."
Currently the Senate doesn't require that continued debate, allowing a
minority of Senators to stop a bill dead in its tracks without being forced to
actually filibuster. And in certain situations a single Senator can even
put an anonymous hold on a bill for an indefinite amount of time.
To date, the House has passed 290 pieces of legislation-many of them with
significant bipartisan support-that have become stalled in the Senate,
including bills that support working-class families, crack down on Wall Street,
help small businesses and support veterans.
In her letter to Senator Reid, Pingree said the American people want a change
in the direction of the country:
"This Congress has a choice between the failed policies of the past-tax breaks
for the rich, deregulation of Wall Street and letting CEOs control health
care-and the change this country truly deserves. If any Senator chooses
to filibuster efforts to create jobs, crack down on Wall Street, and fix our
broken health care system, then they must make that choice in full view of the
American people and commit the time and effort required for such a procedure,"
Pingree wrote.
(Summary of some of the bills awaiting action in the Senate and text of
Pingree's letter to Reid are below.)
Some of the 290 bills passed by the House but held up in the Senate.
As you can see, many of these bills had significant bipartisan support.
Supporting
America' families and communities
H.R. 12, Paycheck Fairness Act
Protects
workers who are discriminates against on the basis of gender.
H.R.
1728, Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act
Protects
consumers from predatory lending practices and requires lender to follow basic
principles of sound lending. (Passed House with 60 Republican votes)
H.R.
3221, Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act
The
largest expansion of student aid in history: saves taxpayers billions of
dollars, reduces deficit, increases access and lowers costs for student loans,
increases Pell Grant Awards and invests billions of dollars in community
colleges
H.R.
3631, Medicare Premium Fairness Act
Protects
11 million seniors from unfair increases in Medicare Part B premiums. (161
Republicans voted for this bill.)
H.R.
3639, Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act
This bill
would have put new consumer protections for credit cards in place sooner.
Instead, banks and credit card companies had an additional three months
to raise rates before the new requlations took effect. (83 Republicans voted
for this bill.)
H.R.
4213, Tax Extenders Act
Extends
dozens of tax breaks for college tuition, for teachers, 30 million home owners,
research and development, farm machinery, low-income housing and clean energy
fuels. (Tax breaks paid for by cracking down on loophole that allows private
equity and hedge fund manager to pay substantially lower taxes)
H.R.
3791, Fire Grants Reauthorization Act
Reauthorizes
important program that provides local firefighters with tools and resources to
do their job safely and effectively.
H.R. 577,
Vision Care for Kids Act
Provides
eye exams and vision care for children
Cracking
down on Wall St
H.R. 1242, Providing for additional monitoring and accountability of the TARP Strengthens accountability,
closes loopholes and increases transparency in the TARP program. (This
bill passed 421-0.)
H.R.
1586, To impose an additional tax on bonuses received from certain TARP
recipients
Taxes
multi-million dollar bonuses for executives of companies that took bailout
money
H.R.
1664, Regarding executive compensation practices of companies receiving TARP
funds
Prohibts
unreasonable compensation not based on performance for executives of companies
that took bailout money
H.R.
2664, Promoting Transparency in Financial Reporting Act
Requires
reporting to Congress on transparency of financial reporting.
H.R.
2873, Enhanced SEC Enforcement Authority Act
Provides enhanced enforcement authority to the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
H.R. 3854, Small Business Financing and Investment Act
The first major overhaul in a decade of SBA loan programs-expanding and
improving these programs to make it easier and more affordable for small
businesses to get loans and access capital. (139 Republicans voted for
this bill in the House.)
H.R. 4173, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Creates a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect consumers from
the worst practices of the financial services industry. For the first
time, puts consumers first when regulating financial services. Ends the
tax-payer funded bailouts of "too big to fail" institutions.
Helping
Small Business
H.R. 1838, Amending Small Business Act to modify certain provisions regarding
women's business centers
Requires
the Small Business Administration to do more to help women-owned businesses.
H.R.
1839, To amend the Small Business Act to improve SCORE
Provides
counseling/mentoring and other services to small businesses that our socially
or economically with disadvantaging backgrounds.
H.R.
1842, Expanding Entrepreneurship Act
Allows
the SBA to do more with entrepreneurial development programs to create new
jobs.
H.R.
1845, Small Business Development Centers Modernization
Amends
the Small Business Act relating to small business development centers; which
were established by the Small Business Administration to provide advisory,
operational, and technical assistance to small businesses.
H.R.
2352, Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act
Major
overhaul of SMA"s entrepreneurial programs, like Small Business Development
Centers, Women's Business Centers and Service Corp of Retired Executives
(SCORE.) (159 Republicans voted for this bill.)
H.R.
3014, Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act
Makes cost-saving information technology affordable for small
group and individual health care practitioners.
H.R.
3737, Small Business Microlending Expansion Act
Improves
and expands the microloan program.
H.R.
3738, Small Business Early-Stage Investment Act
Provides
financing to support early-stage small businesses in targeted industries, and
for other purposes.
H.R.
3743, Small Business Disaster Readiness and Reform Act
Increases
protections for small business borrowers.
Creating clean energy jobs
H.R. 2454, American Clean Energy and Security Act
Will
create millions of clean energy jobs and cut our dependence on foreign oil by
more than 5 million barrels a day.
H.R. 3165, Wind Energy Research and Development Act
Provides
for a research and development a program that improves reliability and capacity
of wind turbines and try while reducing their costs.
H.R.
3585, Solar Technology Roadmap Act
Creates a
landmark program to encourage solar energy development
Supporting our Nation's Veterans
H.R. 403, Homes for Heroes Act
Provides
special assistant to veteran affairs to ensure that housing and homeless
assistance programs benefit veterans.
H.R. 466,
Wounded Veteran Job Security Act
Protects
the rights of wounded veterans to receive medical treatment for
service-connected disabilities.
H.R. 1168, Veterans Retraining Act
Provides
assistance for veterans who are in an employment training program that teaches a skill in
the demand of the employer. (150 Republicans voted yes.)
H.R. 1211, Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act
Expands and improves health care services available to women veterans,
especially those serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring
Freedom. (This bill passed 408-0.)
H.R. 1293, Disabled Veterans Home Improvement and Structural Alteration Grant
Increase Act
Increases payments to veterans with service connected of disabilities
for improvements and structural alterations to their home.
H.R. 1803, Veterans Business Center Act
These centers would provide veterans and their surviving spouses with
entrepreneurial training and counseling.
H.R. 2990, Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act
Provides special pays and allowances to certain members of the Armed
Forces and disabled military retirees. (165 Republicans voted for this
bill.)
H.R. 3219, Veterans' Insurance and Health Care Improvements Act
Would make improvements in the laws administered by the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs relating to insurance and health care for veterans.
H.R. 3949, Veterans' Small Business Assistance and Service Members Protection
Act
Provides a full range of small business ownership counseling, training,
financing and procurement programs available to veterans and Reservists. (This
vote passed 382-2.)
February XX, 2010
The Honorable Harry Reid
Office of the Majority Leader
United States Senate
S-221, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Majority Leader Reid:
As the Senate continues its work on many important measures, we strongly urge you to end the procedural practice of allowing for a "silent filibuster" on legislation pending before the Senate. Currently, there are 290 House-passed bills that are awaiting action in the Senate - many of which are crucial pieces of legislation that will restore our financial institutions, reform our health care system, rebuild our nation's infrastructure, end our dependence on foreign oil, and put Americans back to work. By ending the "silent filibuster", a small group of obstructionist Senators who choose to block essential pieces of legislation will be forced to do so in the public eye, and commit substantial time and effort to the process.
As you know, a traditional filibuster requires both sides of the aisle to debate an issue openly on the Senate Floor, making their positions clear to the American people. Unfortunately, the current practice of a "silent filibuster" allows one side of the isle - or one Senator - to avoid debate and silently block critically important legislation.
By providing anonymity and requiring almost no work, the practice of a "silent filibuster" incentivizes Senators to block pieces of legislation rather than work to craft a suitable compromise. This, in turn, has essentially brought the Senate legislative process to a grinding halt and caused an unprecedented backlog of hundreds of House-passed measures currently awaiting consideration on the Senate Floor.
We strongly urge you to end the practice of the "silent filibuster" and quickly bring the House-passed measures that are ready for consideration to the Senate Floor without fear of a filibuster. As the Senate Majority Leader, you have the right to call for a vote on any of these critically important pieces of legislation-and we urge you to exercise that right where it is appropriate.
This Congress has a choice between the failed policies of the past-tax breaks for the rich, deregulation of Wall Street and letting CEOs control health care-and the change this country truly deserves. If any Senator chooses to filibuster efforts to create jobs, crack down on Wall Street, and fix our broken health care system, then they must make that choice in full view of the American people and commit the time and effort required for such a procedure.
Thank you for considering our request and for your hard work on behalf of your state and the American people.
Sincerely,
Chellie Pingree
Member of Congress
