Sens. Merkley, Daines Propose Bipartisan Senate Reforms
Steve Daines joined Jeff Merkley in proposing bipartisan changes to Senate procedures intended to move more bills to the floor.

SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYCredibility rates Yahoo News, which republished this story. The other scores rate the article itself.
The reporting is attributed to Newsmax in the copyright notice, while Yahoo hosts the page. Newsmax is an established outlet, but its partisan orientation and the lack of clear sourcing or corrections information here support a moderate rather than high rating.
- Source type — The article is hosted by a national news platform, but the copyright identifies Newsmax as the content source.
- Transparency — The author is named, and the copyright notice identifies Newsmax as the publisher of the underlying article.
- Editorial standards — The article provides little indication of its underlying verification process or corrections practices.
The article gives concrete details of the senators’ proposal and attributes the rationale to their opinion piece. It relies almost entirely on the proponents’ account, without independent analysis or opposing views about the proposed procedural changes.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The proposal and its supporters’ rationale are described in detail, but the article does not include critics, independent experts or other perspectives on the proposed changes.
- Counterarguments presented — No arguments against the proposal are included.
- Source diversity — The senators’ opinion piece is the sole substantive source.
- Opinion vs reporting — The article reports the senators’ case but does not distinguish it with independent assessment of likely effects.
The article uses largely neutral language and attributes favorable claims about the proposal to the senators. It does not offer a discernible partisan framing of its own.
- Language tone — The report uses matter-of-fact wording and attributes evaluative claims to the senators.
- Framing — It presents the proposal as a bipartisan effort without explicitly endorsing it.
- Source selection — The account relies on the senators’ description of their own plan, but this produces limited sourcing rather than a clear partisan lean.
Republished with credit
Republished from Newsmax, with credit to the original publisher.
38 stories · 54–58 · updated Oct 10, 2026
This is Newsmax's own score, and this article is credited to Newsmax. The host score in the Source Check is Yahoo News's.
Sens. Jeff Merkley and Steve Daines proposed bipartisan changes to Senate procedures that they say would reduce delays and give more bills a chance for floor debate and votes.
In an opinion piece, Merkley and Daines argued that Senate rules have contributed to obstruction and dysfunction. They proposed changing cloture procedures, eliminating the waiting day before cloture votes, and creating a committee-petition process for bipartisan bills, with debate limited to six hours and passage by simple majority.
The senators also proposed speeding up votes on bipartisan spending bills, saying that this could reduce the risk of government shutdowns and the need for large omnibus bills. They said their changes would encourage bipartisan cooperation and move legislation through the Senate more quickly.
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SWIPE →Oregon senator proposing changes to Senate procedures
Merkley's version of this story ↗Part of a bigger story
8 OUTLETSSteve Daines and Jeff Merkley proposed bipartisan changes to Senate rules intended to speed consideration of legislation. Center outlets describe the proposal as a bipartisan effort to speed Senate business, detailing its procedures and prospects for adoption. Right-leaning outlets also emphasize faster movement of bipartisan bills, while National Review explicitly endorses the package’s cross-party bargaining rationale.
- ARTICLES
- 8
- OUTLETS
- 8
- AVG CRED
- 76
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