Broken Down Rules News Today

Cloture. i spent days in the press gallery watching senators in the chamber and saw how little gets done partly because they have encumbered themselves with rules and they are no longer used reasonably. the bake problem with the senate, it depends on the reasonableness of its members to function at all. in other eras they have been more reasonable. they have been cooperating with each other. today one finds that thats not true anymore. >> nobody ever accused bob dole and george mitchell of not b...

To the floor of the senate. >> if someone needs to spit out chewing tobacco, brass spittoons, a symbol of an era long gone. the senate continues to labor under the constraints of those earlier -- rays. in those days they were more capable of dealing with each other. it was a club. it was corrupt and cozy. because it was closed off from the world, because the cameras werent there, lobbyists and fundraisers werent pervasive, senators were able to create legislation. today our politics are intentio...

Coverage. i recall going with an artist and having to take pictures as you would in the federal courtroom of the senate because we didnt see the television cameras. we now have computers. we have a lot of things in the senate, what about changing these rules? the latest rule not to be changed is the filibuster rule, even though there were some proposed. >> the filibuster is not in the constitution. its actually there because of the absence of a rule. in 1806 aaron burr said we dont need this thi...