On Thursday, March 21, Defending the Filibuster author Richard Arenberg will participate in a panel discussion on the filibuster. "Filibuster Reform 2013: What Happened" will take place from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC.
Recently, Arenberg has been quoted by several news sources about the filibuster. Learn more in these stories by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, Point of Order, Politifact, The Monkey Cage, and The Atlantic.
Painted as an evil and ruthless tyrant, Richard III has been much maligned by Shakespeare and popular culture. In a somewhat anticlimatic end to the mystery of his grave's location, University of Leicester researchers recently announced with scientific certainty that they had discovered Richard III's remains—under a parking lot.
But who is the man behind the bones? Much of what we know comes from Thomas More's 16th-century book The History of King Richard the Third. With the help of Shakespeare, whose Richard the Third took More’s work as its principal model, the History determined the historical reputation of an English king and spawned a seemingly endless controversy about the justness of that reputation. Editor George M. Logan has produced a scholarly yet accessible edition of the History, designed to make More’s exhilarating work fully accessible to 21st-century readers. Read more about this book on the IU Press website and decide for yourself if "history is written by the victors."
Author john a. powell will give a talk and signing for his book Racing to Justice Monday, January 14 from 4:00 p.m to 5:30 p.m. at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, MA. This event is sponsered by The Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. For more information, contact Ruth Goldman.
Learn more about Racing to Justice in this book trailer:
Millions have entered poverty as a result of the Great Recession's terrible toll of long-term unemployment. This month, we will release America’s Poor and the Great Recession which looks at recent trends in poverty and assesses the performance of America’s “safety net” programs. Written by IU SPEA Dean John D. Graham and Kristin S. Seefeldt (a former professor at SPEA Bloomington), the authors consider likely scenarios for future developments and conclude that the well-being of low-income Americans, particularly the working poor, the near poor, and the new poor, is at substantial risk despite economic recovery. The book includes a foreword by national talk show host and SPEA alumnus Tavis Smiley.
On January 15, Graham and Smiley will join the IUPUI School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) for a panel discussion on the new face of poverty. The event will be held in conjunction with the release of the book, officially available January 29. Panelists will discuss the effects of poverty in Indiana and offer possible solutions.
Other panelists on the 15th include James Taylor, CEO of the John H. Boner Community Center in Indianapolis; and Andy Fraizer, Executive Director of the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development. Marion County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ayers will moderate. The public is invited to attend this free lunchtime event at the Lumina Foundation in Indianapolis. RSVP at 317-278-9670 or coemarti@iupui.edu.
In a separate event, in which Dean Graham will also participate, Smiley will moderate a nationally televised discussion, “Vision for a New America: A Future Without Poverty,” on January 17 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Taking place just days before the presidential inauguration, the event is free and open to the public, and will be broadcast live on C-SPAN. Other panelists include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and political and civil rights activist Cornel West. The discussion will be re-broadcast on Smiley’s shows on public radio and television. More information can be found at www.afuturewithoutpoverty.com.
“Until now, it has been possible for the few who still have means to collectively deny, disregard, and disparage their fifty million fellow citizens who are struggling to break out of poverty,” writes Smiley. “As more and more people who thought they were safe fall backward into insolvency, however, poverty becomes a middle class problem. To move forward, we need strategies that are rooted in fact, robust in their impact, and ready for implementation. This is precisely the roadmap offered in America’s Poor and the Great Recession.”
About the authors:
John D. Graham is Dean of the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) and author of Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks (IUP, 2010). From 2001 to 2006 he served as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, White House Office of Management and Budget.
Kristin S. Seefeldt is Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan and author of Working after Welfare: How Women Balance Jobs and Family in the Wake of Welfare Reform and Welfare Reform. She is a former professor at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Tavis Smiley hosts the late night television talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS, The Tavis Smiley Show, and co-hosts Smiley & West, both distributed by Public Radio International (PRI). In addition, Smiley has authored 16 books including a book he edited, Covenant with Black America, which reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In 2009, Smiley was named one of TIME’s 100 “Most Influential People in the World.”
John D. Graham, co-author of America's Poor and the Great Recession, will be a panelist for the discussion "Vision for a New America: A Future Without Poverty" moderated by Tavis Smiley on January 17 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. This free event will be held at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium in
Washington, D.C., and advanced registration is required. The doors open at 5 p.m.
The panelists will discuss proven solutions on how government officials can address the issue of American poverty. Other confirmed panelists include Mariana Chilton, Rose Ann DeMoro, Jonathan Kozol, Jeffery Sachs, and Cornel West.
The discussion will be broadcast live on C-SPAN, and will rebroadcast for three nights on Tavis Smiley on PBS beginning Tuesday, January 22 through Thursday, January 24, 2013. The conversation will continue during The Tavis Smiley Show and Smiley & West, both distributed through Public Radio International (PRI).
For more information, visit the Vision for a New America website.
By Richard A. Arenberg
The understandable focus on the “fiscal cliff” negotiations on Capitol Hill has obscured a more far-reaching historical crisis in the Senate. Tomorrow the new Congress will come to grips with the filibuster reform debate which has been raging over the past several weeks slightly off the public’s radar.
Much of the media commentary has missed the main issue. The frustrated majority Democrats, angry with four years of Republican abuse of the filibuster has been calling for reform. But, much of the public debate tends to center on eliminating the filibuster and allowing the majority to work its will in the Senate.
Many have argued that the filibuster rule is unconstitutional because it imposes a supermajority requirement not delineated in the Constitution. In fact, Common Cause filed a law suit making just that argument. But, on December 21, United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan dismissed the case. He wrote, “Nowhere does the Constitution contain express requirements regarding the proper length of, or method for, the Senate to debate proposed legislation.”
The issue in the Senate itself is very different. No senator is calling for the elimination of the filibuster. In fact, the Senate has been distinguished for more than 200 years by the protection of minority rights balanced with majority rule. The foundation of that protection has been the filibuster, guaranteeing unlimited debate and unfettered amendment. Unlike the House of Representatives where the majority, largely under the control of the Speaker, through the Rules Committee works its will, limits debate, and often permits no amendments, in the Senate the minority can always speak and offer its amendments.
In the Senate, the reformers are calling for three very
specific moderate reforms, two of which Bob Dove
and I proposed in our book, Defending the
Filibuster: The Soul of the Senate, and strongly support. These are the elimination of filibusters on
the motion to take a bill up for debate and the motions necessary to take a
bill which has passed the Senate to conference committee with the House. We believe that there is no value added by
these filibusters against procedural steps. What would remain is the right to filibuster the substance of the bill
itself.
The third proposed amendment is the so-called “talking filibuster.” This is the idea that senators be required to continue to debate a bill which they are filibustering. In reality, this provision would not be likely to have the intended consequences and, in any event, it can be accomplished under existing rules. They merely haven’t been employed.
The crux of the problem is not the package of moderate reforms being proposed. It is the means to those ends which threaten the Senate’s identity. Majority Leader Reid and many of the Democrats are proposing to end debate and change the rules with a simple majority. This violates existing rules which require a 2/3 vote to end the debate.
Proponents call this ploy “the constitutional option.” Opponents refer to it as the “nuclear option” because of the effect it would have on the Senate. It might succeed, but only if the vice president ignores the Senate rules and the advice of the parliamentarian. If Senator Reid has the support of 50 members of his caucus, he can then ratify the vice president’s ruling making it the new precedent of the Senate. (Vice President Biden has not said what he might do.) Changing the rules in this fashion would be unprecedented and, in my judgment, endangers the role of the Senate in our system.
While proponents deny it, this is a slippery slope. The inevitable outcome is that once the precedent is established that a simple majority can change the rules, they will do what majorities do. They will take control. Over a short period of time, the Senate would establish something like the House Rules Committee and limit debate. They would decide whether and which amendments to permit. Committee ratios would become skewed as they are in the House and the majority leader would accumulate power, weakening the rank and file.
A bipartisan group of senior senators led by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Carl Levin (D-MI) have proposed a compromise made up of rules which would accomplish not all, but most, of the reformers’ objectives. They have proposed these changes to their respective leaders and caucuses. The key is the such a compromise might well command the necessary 67 votes.
If the Senate follows the long history of its changes to the filibuster, it will be accomplished by rejecting the radical route of breaking the rules to change them through the “constitutional option.” Instead, a bipartisan supermajority of senators will embrace compromise. This is the Senate way.
Richard A. Arenberg is co-author of Defending the Filibuster: The Soul of the Senate, written with former Senate Parliamentarian Robert B. Dove. He served on Capitol Hill for 34 years, working in senior positions for Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME) and Sens. Paul Tsongas (D-MA), and Carl Levin (D-MI). He is currently an adjunct professor at Brown University, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University.
The Local Buzz will host author and 34-year Senate veteran Richard Arenberg for a discussion on the role of the filibuster in politics. This free event takes place Monday, December 17, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in Cape Elizabeth, ME. The general public is invited. For more information, see the event flyer.
In Defending the Filibuster, Arenberg and co-author Robert B. Dove argue passionately in favor of retaining the
filibuster and maintain that it is fundamental to the character of the Senate.
To learn more about the book, visit the IU Press website.
Defending the Filibuster has been all over the news lately! With the new Congress set to meet in January, many are speculating about a possible change to the filibuster rule. Filibuster authors Richard Arenberg and Robert Dove have been asked to weigh in on the debate by various media outlets and even other politicians. Below is a list of their most recent appearances and coverage for their book:
Hertitage Foundation event
Arenberg and Dove will discuss their book December 11 at 11 a.m. in the Lehrman Auditorium of The Heritage Foundation, located in Washington, DC. Copies of Defending the Filibuster will be available for signing and purchase. Visit the Foundation's website to RSVP for the event or to watch it online.
Arenberg took part in an NYT debate trying to answer the question "Do Filibusters Stall the Senate or Give It Purpose?" Arenberg argues that the filibuster should be reformed, not eliminated, but cautions that changes need to be made the right way.
Arenberg joined Alan Frumin, Akhil Amar, and Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and host Chris Hayes to discuss the prospects of filibuster reform.
Arenberg spoke with the magazine about why the filibuster is a sign of a healthy democracy and answered questions about why we should keep it and how to prevent it from being abused.
Host Alicia Menendez asks Arenberg and fellow guests Angela Rye, Elizabeth Lauten, Jim Jaffe, Jen Bendery how would politics be different if the leaders in Congress weren't treated as the face of their party.
Arenberg's article added to Congressional Record
On December 3, Senator Lamar Alexander requested permission to add Arenberg's article "Filibuster reform: Avoid the 'nuclear option'" to the Congressional Record. His article first appeared in the Washington Post on November 14, 2012.
Letter from Vice President Biden
Arenberg recently received a letter of praise for his work on Defending the Filibuster from Vice President Joe Biden!
John Graham, dean of IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs, will appear on the Tavis Smiley show Wednesday, November 21, to discuss his forthcoming book America's Poor and the Great Recession. Smiley, who has said "poverty is the new slavery," wrote the foreword for the book.
In America's Poor and the Great Recession, Graham and co-author Kristin Seefeldt look at the millions of people who have entered poverty as a result of the Great
Recession's terrible toll of long-term unemployment. They conclude that the well-being of
low-income Americans, particularly the working poor, the near poor, and
the new poor, is at substantial risk despite economic recovery.
The book will be available in January. For more information, visit the IU Press website.
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