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Washington Examiner

Washington Examiner

Will senators hard-bargain to revive the Senate? - Washington Examiner

Washington Examiner
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72% Informative

Senators are back in their home states running for reelection and raising money for themselves and their parties.

Meanwhile, an immense logjam of legislative work remains undone.

The Senate did not pass a budget resolution this spring , nor did it enact any of the dozen annual spending bills.

One factor in the backlog is the Senate ’s truncated work schedule.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) recently issued a letter to his GOP colleagues encouraging them to choose a leader who will revive the chamber as a lawmaking body.

Lee advocates several reforms, including reserving floor time to vote on appropriations bills and allowing amendments to bills unless three-quarters of Republicans agree to disallow them.

One former longtime Senate leadership staffer warned that “changing the culture of the Senate by changing the rules of one caucus will weaken all Republicans , not just the leader”.