Last week:

Merkley Lays Out A Course For Reforming The Filibuster In The Next Senate: ‘Mark This Date On Your Calendar’

….Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) laid out a path to fundamentally change the way the filibuster works. Merkeley told Hartmann to “mark this date on your calendar: January 5th. That’s the date we’re going to come in for the next Congress, and it’s on that date that a group of us is trying to pass a motion for the Senate to adopt new rules.”

Merkley then went on to explain his proposal for the new filibuster rules. The senator explained that by assembling 51 votes at the start of the new Senate, he wants to change the chamber’s rules so that when a senator engages in a filibuster, they have to go to the floor of the Senate, “defend your position, hold the floor, and if you’re not there, the Senate goes forth and holds a majority vote.” In other words, Merkley is proposing that if senators want to filibuster bills, they actually have to show up and physically spend time on the floor of the Senate to stop bills from going forth. “Hopefully we can bring together that magic 51 to say let’s make it function, the Senate function, to be that deliberative body that it once was….”

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) via Twitter this morning:

Rs blockng everything until they get extra tax help for multimillionaires:military pay raise,cola for seniors,med help for 9/11 1st respndrs about 1 hour ago via Twitter for iPad

And, of course, we chimed in:

@MBersin @clairecmc Then do something about changing the rules in January. #MO 44 minutes ago via web in reply to clairecmc

And Blue Girl:

@BGinKC @clairecmc And if the Ds don’t change the rules 1st thing Jan 5th, it stops being their fault and starts being yours. #thatsjustthewayitis 41 minutes ago via web in reply to clairecmc

And someone else:

@DoctorD71 @clairecmc You guys need to vote to change the Senate rules to stop the R roadblock. 39 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to clairecmc

And:

@Pnthrgrlgail @clairecmc Rs blocking but Dems will get the blame. Propaganda station Fox will make sure that poor, unemployed blame Democrats not GOP. 34 minutes ago via Twitterrific in reply to clairecmc

Senator McCaskill (D) replied to someone:

@clairecmc @stevetinkham That’s simply not true.We must have 60 votes to stop their filibusters. We don’t have 60 Ds in Senate.Theyve stopped everything 23 minutes ago via Twitter for iPad

Well, what about making the republicans actually stand up there when they filibuster?:

@MBersin @clairecmc Are you going to join with Sens. Merkley and T. Udall on January 5th to make senators, you know, actually filibuster? #MO 23 minutes ago via web in reply to clairecmc

Others, you know, had the same idea:

@atuozzolo @clairecmc let them filibuster, you know, like actually stand out there and talk. 21 minutes ago via DestroyTwitter in reply to clairecmc

@RadioBradshaw @clairecmc Sounds like a good reason to consider filibuster reform on day 1. 21 minutes ago via web in reply to clairecmc

@kennethlaw @clairecmc bring back the old school filibuster. They won’t won’t spend days talking on the floor to stop a bill. Make the Senate work again 20 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone in reply to clairecmc

@TerryOlson @clairecmc So are you folks going to change the filibuster rules in January? 19 minutes ago via web in reply to clairecmc

@norskiewa @clairecmc Are you working with @SenJeffMerkley on filibuster reform? 15 minutes ago via web in reply to clairecmc

@jtwill84 @clairecmc Why can’t we keep the filibuster, but require the minority to actually FILIBUSTER…Thurmond and Mr. Smith style? 12 minutes ago via TweetDeck in reply to clairecmc

@clegoues @clairecmc Honest question: why don’t you just let them filibuster? Let them look stupid on CSPAN? 8 minutes ago via Echofon

@AlexForOffice @clairecmc well then why don’t you actually force them to filibuster? Instead of just caving to threats of filibuster. 19 minutes ago via Twitter for Android from Southfield, MI   in reply to clairecmc

If the NFL operated the way the United States Senate does there’d be no scoring. “Uh, we can theoretically block a field goal so we don’t need to actually do so.”