McConnell decides what we take to the floor only so long as members defer to him to do so. Under the Senate’s rules, any member can make a motion to proceed to a bill. And any bill can be offered as an amendment to legislation on the floor.
Leaders have long pretended otherwise. This isn’t unique to McConnell. They all wish they had formal power under the rules. But the fact is that they don’t.
Since leaders get their power from others’ deference, they should be careful to avoid the appearance of using that power to the detriment of those on whose continued deference it depends. Why would the minority (or any senator) defer to majority leader to schedule Bills...
If the majority leader used it to stop the minority from raising issues with which it was concerned?
If McConnell continues this kind of braggadocio, he could undermine the entire basis of his power in the Senate.
Ask yourself, how would McConnell stop this bill from coming up exactly? What rule does he cite? What power? By definition, something that is available to everyone is not the property of one person only. But McConnell seems to think so.
How would McConnell stop a member from making a motion to proceed on the Senate floor? In the spring of 2010, he made a motion to proceed to a bill even though he was minority leader at the time. Did Reid not enjoy the same exclusive power to determine Senate business at time?
If Senate is on the Coast Guard bill for example, how exactly would McConnell stop a senator from offering an amendment to it that contained the text of this bill? Presumably he would fill tree, just like every other time bill was on floor, but senators don’t have to follow tree.
This kind of language sounds more like Lyndon Johnson than Mansfield. And therein lies the problem. McConnell is trying to run Mansfield’s Senate like Johnson. That’s why things have gotten so bad. He can’t make it work.
The bill may be a good idea or a bad idea. And it may or may not need to be debated on the floor. But that’s not McConnell’s decision. If it were, then the Senate should spend more time evaluating the people it selects to be its leaders.
From a practical perspective, this kind of language doesn’t make sense. It makes the bill’s failure McConnell’s fault, even though he has no more power to kill a bill than the new senator from Mississippi. And if it comes up anyway, it makes him look weak.
McConnell’s statement also highlights the illusory nature of our politics at present. If we were so polarized, if Democrats were so implacably opposed to the president, determined to protect Mueller, one would reasonably expect them to force votes on things like this.
After all, they have the power to do so. But they don’t. The same dynamic is present on DACA. Why don’t the Democrats act?
The reason is that Democrats, just like Republicans, no longer view the Senate as a place where significant action occurs. It’s literally a waste of time from their perspective. The real action is at the ballot box.
Members are willing to defer to McConnell to make these decisions on issues they ostensibly care about because they don’t think it matters.
Once senators decide that policy change can happen between elections, they will change things. It will happen almost overnight. This is what happened when Senate transitioned from the 50s to the 60s.
Johnson’s power was revealed to be illusory when members had an incentive to act. Until then, they continued to defer to him.
One final thought. The most powerful person in the Senate isn’t the majority leader. It’s the Vice President. He can make rulings, chose to recognize senators, etc. but even there, he can be overruled by the Senate. As with the leader, the real power lies in the rank-and-file.
