Many people view a U.S. Senate filibuster as something that we witnessed in the 1939 movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – a classic. In 2011, a senate filibuster is far from what Jefferson Smith (played by Jimmy Stewart) portrayed it to be. Probably one reason is there isn’t anyone like a “Jefferson Smith” serving as a United States Senator these days, but I digress…

Today the Billings Gazette editorial board addressed the U.S. Senate’s filibuster rules and the rule of placing secret holds on legislation and nominations.

The Gazette feels the secret hold should be done away with. U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester (both democrats and in the majority) do, too. The Gazette also does not care too much for filibusters and Tester wants to limit filibusters, according to the Gazette.  Tester wants to be re-elected, too.

My first thought in reading the editorial was of course they do; they are in the majority. Every time one party or the other is in the majority, they want to have a clear path to shoving their legislation through the senate (and down our throats).

That’s why I like the 60 vote rule needed to end the filibuster. If the senate can get 60 senators to agree on anything, then the chance of it not hurting us is pretty good.

The Democrats had their 60 votes just a year or so ago to move any and all legislation they wanted. Most people who watch or write commentary about the Senate understand that they failed miserably. They failed because of fighting between the Democrats and a leadership team that could not whip their members into line. Sadly though, they were able to get a few votes from moderate republican senators to spend more money and put us further in debt than any time in history. Just imagine what would have happened if the democrats only needed a simple majority on all those spending bills.

Filibusters and secret “holds” are very much a part of the Senate – these tools encourage communication, it fosters deal-making, and it also prevents one political party from shoving legislation through the senate that harms us – the constituents.