Franken as 60th Senate Democrat: How big a prize?
| Washington
Al Franken鈥檚 recount victory in Minnesota鈥檚 US Senate race gives the Democratic majority its 60th senator 鈥� but no guarantee that the new 鈥渟upermajority鈥� will hold on tough votes on energy, healthcare reform, and war.
That 60-vote threshold needed to break a filibuster by the minority party has been Exhibit A in fundraising appeals on both sides of the aisle throughout the 239-day recount in Minnesota. What the red-flagged e-mail appeals didn鈥檛 say was this: It may not matter.
Take Jimmy Carter 鈥� the last US president with a filibuster-proof majority, at least on paper. President Carter came into office in 1977 with a head count of 61 senators in the Democratic majority, but it didn鈥檛 ensure him the votes to jump-start a morose economy or move White House tax and welfare reforms. His majority, which still included a critical mass of Southern Democrats, was deeply divided.
Democratic senators not marching in lock step
To a lesser extent, so is today's Democratic majority. On issues ranging from a 鈥減ublic option鈥� for health coverage to environmental regulations to curb carbon emissions, Democrats are struggling to find their own common ground before taking on the Republicans.
Democrats are also down two for most votes, as Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Robert Byrd of West Virginia have been absent from the Senate for health reasons.
鈥淕iven how frequently the filibuster is used as a tool in party battles, it鈥檚 obviously better to have 60 votes than 59,鈥� says Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University in New Jersey. 鈥淏ut if you follow divisions that have emerged on healthcare and energy, there are a lot of intraparty tensions within the Democratic
Party. If Democrats splinter come October on such legislation, being able to block a Republican filibuster won鈥檛 mean much.鈥�
Franken's 'to do' list
Senator-elect Franken, expected to be sworn in when the Senate returns, as early as Monday, will have little time to ramp up for what is expected to be an intense month of legislating before the August break.
The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on which he is expected to serve, is winding down a mark-up of comprehensive health reform legislation 鈥� a key issue in Franken鈥檚 campaign. The panel is struggling with how to craft a government-run health insurance option and bring down the cost of the program to
a level that can win support of 12 to 15 moderate Democrats.
Franken is also expected to participate in the Senate Judiciary Committee鈥檚 confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, expected to begin July 13. With the defection of former GOP Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Democrats have a big 12-to-7 margin going into those hearings.
While the Senate has had many high-profile freshmen with celebrity names, it鈥檚 never had a professional comedian.
鈥淭he Senate can get pretty ponderous and self-important, so it helps to have somebody to lighten up the dialogue,鈥� says Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. 鈥淭here are people that come in with a reputation earned in another field and blunder badly because they overestimate what they can do or just don鈥檛 get the personal chemistry with senators that is so important. He鈥檚 going to need to put himself in the position that Hillary Clinton did 鈥� to go through a period of self-apprenticeship and learn to become a senator.鈥�
Six months into an intense session, he鈥檚 also going to have to do it fast.
