Nov 202009
I’ve explained to a couple people that tomorrow’s Senate vote on health care is not a vote on the actual bill. Rather, it’s a vote to begin floor debate. Senators will be grandstanding in front of the C-SPAN cameras as they debate whether they should continue debating. It’s yet another illustration of how our political system is biased towards preserving the status quo. The Senate rulebook may be one of the most important documents governing our legislative process, but its not something that merits much discussion in high school civics classes. That’s a shame because people deserve to understand that political gridlock is a function of process as much as it is a function of personalities.
