Regaining the Trust of the American People
Everyone knows that the American people don't trust Congress. But this week in the Senate we saw why distrust of Washington is at an all-time high and why it matters.
All eyes were on the Senate this week. With some of the most important – and controversial – provisions of the Patriot Act set to expire at the end of the month, the American people expected to see the Senate debating and deliberating the future of our nation's intelligence apparatus.
Last week the House of Representatives took up the issue and passed the USA Freedom Act with a sweeping bipartisan majority. This week, it was the Senate's turn to act.
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The USA Freedom Act also enjoyed bipartisan support in the Senate, but it was not the only option on the table. Some wanted to simply reauthorize Section 215 and the other expiring provisions, while other senators preferred to let the provisions expire altogether.
Although I support the USA Freedom Act, I believe the diversity of opinion was all the more reason to have a full and open debate on this issue. But that's not what we had.
Instead, we had more of the same procedural manipulation that we had come to expect from the Democratic leadership in the Senate last year. More twisting of the rules to block debate and amendments, and more systematically disenfranchising hundreds of millions of Americans from political representation.
This is why the American people distrust Congress. And it matters because, as we saw on the Senate floor Wednesday night, these kinds of bare-knuckled tactics ultimately cause the policymaking process to break down and grind to a halt.
But it doesn't have to be this way. In fact, since the Republicans took charge of the Senate four months ago, I have been hopeful that it won't be this way as long as the G.O.P. is in control. And I'm still hopeful.
As the Senate moves to consider the USA Freedom Act, I hope we will prove to the American people that the broken Washington status quo of "cliff" crises, secret negotiations, and take-it-or-leave-it deals are a thing of the past.
