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Filibustering for filibusters
BY SARA DONNELLY
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THE PEOPLE SPEAK (AT RIGHT): Wendy Chapkis reads from a book extolling the virtues of freedom at the People Speak rally in Portland’s Monument Square on May 16. People Speak was a 24-hour, non-stop rally against modifying the filibuster rules in the United States Senate, a controversial issue which the Senate is expected to debate and decide, by vote or by compromise, sometime this month. More than 70 Mainers gathered at the Portland rally, one of 192 nationwide, to take the podium and read essays, speeches, phonebooks, novels, or to rant on about whatever came to mind, mimicking the Senate filibuster routine when senators stall the vote by continually occupying the podium. Senate Republicans, angry that Dems have used the filibuster to block 10 of President Bush’s most conservative judicial nominees, want to reduce the number of votes needed to end filibusters from 60 to 51. Portland’s rally was considered especially important to national organizers because Maine’s Junior Republican Senator Susan Collins is one of only seven senators who hold crucial swing votes; she has not publicly taken a side. Maine’s Senator Olympia Snowe is expected to vote against modifying the filibuster. People Speak was organized by the national progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org and the Maine Women’s Policy Center in Hallowell.
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