OPINION:
The U.S. Senate stands at the crossroads of American politics. Its very creation was the linchpin of the Great Compromise that produced our Constitution. The Senate was to serve as a “necessary fence” against what the Framers described as the “fickleness and passion” that drives popular pressure for hasty and ill-considered lawmaking — what Edmund Randolph famously called “the turbulence and follies of democracy.”
In fulfilling this purpose, the Senate was to be a place of robust debate and thoughtful deliberation; an assembly dedicated to prudent policy and wise legislation; and an institution with special concern for the sovereign states and the individual liberties of all Americans. The Senate’s institutional design followed directly from these aims.
The relatively small membership of the Senate would amplify the importance of individual senators as opposed to chamber leaders or voting blocs. Unlike in the House of Representatives, each senator could be intimately involved in all aspects of the chamber’s deliberation and debate.
Longer terms would allow senators to resist initially popular but ultimately unwise legislation. Staggered terms would create a continuing body that could temper unwieldy swings of public passion and provide greater stability in national governance. And statewide constituencies would require appealing to a broader set of interests than more narrow and homogenous House districts.
Building upon the Constitution’s defining institutional contours, the Senate’s historic rules and traditions helped shape it into a body that the great William Gladstone called “the most remarkable of all of the inventions of modern politics.”
But recently, the Senate has failed to live up to its original purposes. The institution is broken, and everyone knows it. With so many critical challenges facing our nation today, there has never been a more important time for the Senate to function effectively.
For 38 years, I have had the extraordinary privilege of serving in the Senate. During that time, I have witnessed it at its best and, more recently, at its worst. My experience throughout the last four decades has confirmed to me the wisdom of the first Adlai Stevenson, then vice president, who in his 1897 farewell address, captured the essence of the Senate: “In this Chamber alone are preserved without restraint two essentials of wise legislations and good government: the right of amendment and of debate. Great evils often result from hasty legislation; [but] rarely from the delay which follows full discussion and deliberation.”
In recent years, these foundations of the Senate’s unique character — meaningful debate and an open amendment process — have come under sustained assault by a majority that prioritized scoring political points over preserving the Senate’s essential role in our system of self-government.
Rather than simply bemoan this recent institutional damage, Senate Republicans have a duty to use our newfound majority to restore the Senate. By returning to regular order and committee work, promoting robust debate, and enabling a deliberative amendment process, we can make the Senate work again.
In particular, the Senate must once again engage in meaningful policy discussions rather than wasting most of our time on partisan grandstanding and cheap political theater. It must more often be a place for debating and seeking the common good rather than simply messaging to particular interests and protecting electorally vulnerable senators from tough votes.
Perhaps most important, the Senate must once again become the primary body for forging consensus and advancing national priorities, even during times of political polarization. To do so, individual senators must go out of their way to develop meaningful partnerships with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and resist the temptation to simply march lockstep with our ideological allies and heighten the divisions present in society.
Restoring the Senate in this manner will not be easy. After years of bitter partisan tension, we cannot expect a complete change to come overnight. But by re-establishing our historic aims and reinstituting our defining modes of operation — including robust debate and an opportunity for legislative amendments — the Senate can once more be about the people’s business and deserve the title of “world’s greatest deliberative body.”
• Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, is president pro tempore of the United States Senate.
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