After the biggest loss for his party since the 1940’s, Politico reports that Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats are working feverishly through the recess to introduce a filibuster reform package when the Senate reconvenes next week.  Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, long a vocal critic of the current rules, went so far as to claim that the filibuster has, “stood democracy on its head.”  Despite the hyperbole and howling from Harkin and others, the facts tell a different story.

Under the current rules, Reid and his slim 53-vote majority no longer have the clout to ram through massively unpopular legislation like ObamaCare and the $800-billion “stimulus” that we saw in the last Congress.  In response, they now plan to ram through an odious rule change so they can continue to pass massively unpopular legislation despite the rejection of their policies in the last election.  This is a naked power grab, pure and simple.