“Lamar Alexander Seeks Path to Change in Senate”

NYT:

Nothing touches off a political war in the Senate like proposals to tinker with the arcane rules that govern the often creaky chamber. Talk of eliminating the filibuster is called the nuclear option for a reason.

But Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the cerebral former Republican governor and cabinet member, may have come up with a novel approach to winning support for the changes that many, if not most, of his colleagues agree are overdue — and to enact them without starting the congressional equivalent of Armageddon.

His idea? Use the next few months to develop, debate and approve proposals to make the Senate more efficient, but then agree not to institute the changes until 2017 — after next year’s election. With no certainty about which party will win the majority next November, the thinking goes, both Republicans and Democrats might be enticed to roll the dice and embrace changes since there would not be an obvious advantage to advance for either party.

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