Matthew Yglesias is pretty brutal on the senators who voted for a parliamentary procedure, sponsored by Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns, that makes it more difficult to pass "climate change legislation involving a cap and trade system":
This is good for Republicans, since it helps them achieve their goal of destroying the planet. And it’s good for Democrats, since it helps them achieve their goal of pretending to try to avoid the destruction of the planet while ensuring that, in practice, the planet is destroyed. And Senators Johanns was born in 1950, so he’ll almost surely be dead by 2050 (along with countless residents of flood-prone areas of the developing world) so it’s basically all good.
The solution is obvious: Allow all current senators to pass their seats on to their children, and then to their children, etc. but only as long as the US -- and their particular states -- continue to exist. That gives the current crew an incentive to make sure they're actually bequeathing something of value. In particular, the senators from low sea-level states like Florida and Louisiana would suddenly become much more worried about climate change.
Under this system, an inherited Senate seat would not be subject to the estate tax, even if it is an "[indubitably] valuable thing."
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