A Worthwhile Package of Senate Reforms

In today’s Washington Post, Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana and Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon propose a series of modest but significant reforms of Senate rules to allow broadly bipartisan bills to move faster in that chamber.

They want to eliminate the requirement for cloture on some routine Senate work, including nominations, and to end the requirement for an entire day to pass between filing for cloture and voting on it. That would significantly speed up the Senate’s work on genuinely routine matters.