Emily Orrson | Filiflustered

In the British House of Commons, it is illegal for members to accuse each other of lying or drunkenness. No member can be called a blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, swine or stoolpigeon.

But on this side of the pond, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been using terms to insult Democrats that are almost as startling. Early this week, he accused the party of throwing a bomb into Congress, of attempting a “naked power grab” and poisoning party relations, accusing Democrats of making “the disputes of the past few years look like mere pillow fights,” according to Politico.

How the political pillow fights of the past will compare to the 113th Congress is unclear (unless the Republicans begin bringing their bayonets,) but I have little hope they will result in a more efficient Senate — something America desperately needs.

Republicans have been firing off filibusters at an average rate of 129 per year for the past three years, according to The New Yorker. That’s around one filibuster per day while Senate is in session.

In 2009-2010, only 3 percent of bills proposed to Senate actually passed. Last year, Senate experienced its least productive season in the last 10 non-election years.

On Monday, Majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) put his foot down. Reid, who has faced 386 Republican-led filibusters over his past six years, threatened to ban the filibuster a “motion to proceed,” which has historically allowed senators to block debate over a bill.

Other options on the table include a “talking filibuster,” which would require members blocking a bill to stay on the floor and discuss their reasons for doing so. Under the current “silent filibuster” a single senator can filibuster a bill remotely. In January, using a type of vote called a “nuclear option,” there is a small window of time where Senate can change its own voting rules with a simple 51 votes. With their 55-45 majority, Democrats could easily act on Reid’s proposal. McConnell has vowed such a move will poison partisan efforts in 2013.

The current feud does not bode well for a compromise on fiscal issues or a nonpartisan New Year. Republicans threaten to filibuster the filibuster vote. Democrats guiltily remember their own threats of retaliation when the GOP tried to change rules on partisan voting in 2005. Since when are party lines so rigid that the route to change involves a “nuclear option”?

Having attended Quaker schools since sixth grade, I can’t help but lament our Senate’s inability to achieve consensus.

In Quaker meetings, everyone must agree before a decision is made. When members hold conflicting views, the group will attempt to garner the “sense of the meeting”— or mutual points of agreement — and move forward. Members are free to stand aside if they don’t agree, but those willing to work towards a decision yield to the sense of the meeting.

This is rarely an easy process. At my high school, the student government body, also called the Senate, made many decisions through the Quaker method. You can imagine what it was like to ask more than a dozen teenagers to agree on a homecoming theme. Discussions would take hours and only ended when even the staunchest students were persuaded or agreed to move forward.

I am all for limiting filibuster options in Washington D.C. and Reid’s proposed changes are minor. But the root of the problem here is not the existence of the filibuster. It’s a refusal to listen to the sense of the meeting.

Senators filibuster to shut down bills before they reach the floor for debate. They have the power to shut down bills without taking the floor to explain why. For true compromise to occur in the Senate, members will have to put down their pillows and start listening to each other — even if it takes all night. And when it does, Senate has 100 cots and staffers to wheel them out.

Emily Orrson is a College senior from Baltimore, Md. Her email address is eorrson@gmail.com. Follow her @schmemily1. “The Half of It” appears every other Thursday.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.