John Sununu on Government Reform Republican Senator; previously Representative (NH-1)

The filibuster is an incredibly important tool

"The filibuster is an incredibly important tool to force the Senate to get tough problems done and to have some bipartisanship on the toughest issues," Sununu said. "And here's the most important reason I don't want to get rid of the filibuster. When we have a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president, what would Joe Biden have done with that? It would have wrecked the country."

Brown said he was opposed for similar reasons. "I like the president. I like a lot of what he's doing," Brown said. "But I've always told him that I would give him my opinion on a whole host of things. But no, I believe the filibuster is what separates us from the House."

Sponsored bill allowing individual votes on each earmark.

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: A bill to provide greater accountability of taxpayers` dollars by curtailing congressional earmarking.

SPONSOR`S INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Sen. McCAIN: This bipartisan bill changes the Senate rules to allow points of order to be raised against unauthorized appropriations and policy riders in appropriations bills and conference reports in an effort to reign in wasteful pork barrel spending.

In 1994, there were 4,126 Congressional earmarks added to the annual appropriations bills. In 2005, there were 15,877 earmarks, the largest number yet, that`s an increase of nearly 300%! The level of funding associated with those earmarks has more than doubled from $23 billion in 1994 to $47 billion in 2005.

Our bill would establish a new procedure which would allow a 60-vote point of order to be raised against specific provisions that contain unauthorized appropriations, including earmarks, as well as unauthorized policy changes in appropriations bills and conference reports. Successful points of order would not kill a conference report, but the targeted provisions would be removed from the conference report.

To ensure that Members are given enough time to review appropriations bills, our proposal would also require that conference reports be available at least 48 hours prior to floor consideration.

To promote transparency, our bill requires that any earmarks included in a bill be disclosed fully in the bill`s accompanying report, along with the name of the Member who requested the earmark and its essential governmental purpose.

LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration; never came to a vote.

Ensure delivery of absentee ballots for troops overseas.

A bill to improve procedures for the collection and delivery of absentee ballots of absent overseas uniformed services voters. Congress makes the following findings:

1. In the defense of freedom, members of the United States Armed Forces are routinely deployed to overseas locations.
2. We live in what senior Army leaders have referred to as an `era of persistent conflict`.
3. The right to vote is one of the most basic and fundamental rights enjoyed by Americans, and one which the members of the Armed Forces bravely defend.
4. The ability of the members of the Armed Forces to vote while serving overseas has been hampered by numerous factors, including inadequate processes for ensuring their timely receipt of absentee ballots, delivery methods that are typically slow and antiquated, and a myriad of absentee voting procedures that are often confusing.
5. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which requires the States to allow absentee voting for members of the Armed Forces and other specified groups of United States citizens, was intended to protect the voting rights of members of the Armed Forces.
6. 992,034 absentee ballots were requested in the 2006 general election. However, less than one-third of such ballots were ultimately received by local election officials, evidencing an unacceptable failure of the current absentee ballot system.
7. Modern technology continues to rapidly advance, greatly expanding the range of potential solutions to these problems and increasing the ability to remove obstacles encountered by overseas members of the Armed Forces in the past in trying to cast their votes; [specifically]:

• Collection- establish procedures for collecting absentee ballots
• Ensuring Delivery Prior to Closing of Polls- ensure that any absentee ballot which is collected prior to the applicable deadline is delivered prior to the time established by the State for the closing of the polls on the date of the election.