Congress' Rules Could End Filibuster—A Disaster For U.S. Markets

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Investors Business Daily:

Now that we have had a 1-4-4 ruling from the Roberts court that the health care reform act is a constitutional exercise of the federal tax power, the next question is how it will be treated by Congress.

Unfortunately, the same Senate that has failed to pass a budget as required by law for the last three years will have to make the determination as to whether new laws are subject to filibuster or not. While principled parliamentarians may cling to the filibuster, in the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling it is likely that more laws will be more subject to the budget reconciliation process of the Senate and less to filibusters.

This reconciliation process is reserved for revenue bills that raise or lower taxes. The same Senate that feels free to ignore the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 will likely rely on the court's newfound inability to distinguish between a tax and a penalty in order do away with the power to filibuster for many laws that formerly were stoppable without 60 Senate votes.

So now, the World's Greatest Deliberative Body will increasingly be subject to only a bare majority without the need to build consensus or reach across the aisle. This is another giant step in our march away from having a republic as our Founders envisioned. Instead, we have mere democracy, which was once reportedly described by Ben Franklin as "two wolves and one lamb voting on what to have for dinner."

It is likely to turn out as well for us as it did for the lamb. It was this ability to ignore the other side that got passions so inflamed in the health care debate.

Paradoxically, with more sources of news available than ever before, the electorate self-sorts so that each party plays more to its base than in the past. Think of the news as having an echo-chamber effect.

In this environment, we can expect more laws to be passed with bare majorities.