Christopher Bedford of the Daily Caller suggests ways Republicans in the U.S. Senate could address Democrats’ obstructionist tactics.
… [E]very week, the Democrats are allowed to work just 2.5 days before returning home to duke it out with their Republican challengers. That is, Mitch McConnell is allowing Democrats to hit the campaign trail hard while obstructing 139 of the president’s nominees. …
… Instead of working, however, these senators are clocking into the office late on Monday, generally starting the work week Tuesday morning, and heading back to the trail Thursday, often before lunchtime.When you account for travel, that’s a full four days “working” from home: speaking with constituents, attending meetings, cutting ribbons, raising money. In other words, campaigning: making the case their Republican challenger should be defeated and they should be re-elected. …
… Senate rules — specifically, Rule XXII — dictate that during the maximum allowed 30-hours of debate, senators can speak no more than twice, and for no more than an hour total. Senate rules are rarely entertaining, but forcing 30 senators to the floor every single time they wanted to play cute would be good for their health, and put some much-need fire under the Trump-Republican agenda.
With this level of ruthlessness, McConnell would have little difficulty replacing “the resistance” with the president’s nominees. “The rules say the majority leader can force a talking filibuster and limit it to two speeches per senator, so, about an hour per senator if they come down to talk,” Wesley Denton of the Conservative Partnership Institute, which has repeatedly warned of Republican weakness, told The Daily Caller. “They could probably get 10 or more down a week, and instead they’re just gifting it to Democrats.”