Barabak: The Senate is a mess. Jeff Merkley wants to fix it, from the inside.

"To say the U.S. Senate has grown dysfunctional is like suggesting water is wet or the nighttime sky is dark. The institution that fancies itself the world's greatest deliberative body is supposed to serve as a cooling saucer that tempers the more hotheaded House, applying weight and wisdom as it addresses the Great Issues of Our Time. Instead, it's devolved into an unsightly mess of gridlock and partisan hackery."

"Part of that is owing to the filibuster, one of the Senate's most distinctive features, which over roughly the last decade has been abused and misused to a point it's become, in the words of congressional scholar Norman J. Ornstein, a singular weapon of mass obstruction. Democrat Jeff Merkley, the junior U.S. senator from Oregon, has spent years on a mostly one-man crusade aimed at reforming the filibuster and restoring a bit of sunlight and self-discipline to the chamber."

"This is essential for people to see what their representatives are debating and then have the opportunity to weigh in, said Merkley, speaking from the Capitol after a vote on the Senate floor. Without the public being able to see the obstruction, he said, they [can't] really respond to it. What follows is a discussion of congressional process, but before your eyes glaze over, you should understand that process is what determines the way many things are accomplished or not in Washington, D.C."

The U.S. Senate has become dysfunctional, marked by gridlock and partisan maneuvering rather than deliberation and cooling of House zeal. The filibuster has been increasingly abused over roughly the last decade, turning into a tool for obstruction that blocks legislation and reduces transparency. Senator Jeff Merkley led efforts to reform the filibuster, nearly succeeding in 2022 when supporters fell two votes short on voting-rights changes. Merkley argues that visible obstruction prevents the public from responding to their representatives' behavior. The filibuster functions by allowing unlimited debate unless a specific vote is taken to end debate, unlike the House.

Read at www.mercurynews.com