Can the Senate bind itself?

There is a fair amount of buzz on right-leaning blogs suggesting that a portion of the Senate’s health care bill is unconstitutional because purports to limit the discretion of future Senates.  The Senate bill sets up a Medicare advisory committee that is basically designed to make recommendations on cost saving measures in the Medicare system.  In an attempt to keep future congresses from watering down good cost-saving ideas that may be politically unpleasant, the bill states that any recommendation from the advisory committee can only be amended in the senate by a 3/5 vote so that the proposals are essentially accepted or rejected in their entirety.

Jonathan Alder asks if the Senate is allowed to bind future Senates in this way and Eric Posner says no.  I’m no expert parliamentarian, but I would like to know one thing: if this Senate cannot constitutionally bind future Senates with a 3/5 requirement to amend a bill sent from the advisory committee, how is it that previous Senates are allowed to bind the current Senate with a 3/5 requirement for cloture?

If that provision of the health care bill doesn’t pass the constitutional smell test, shouldn’t each Senate also have to vote to establish its own filibuster rules? If so, this Senate hasn’t done so, and the Republicans are no more able to filibuster anything than the Democrats are able to restrict the amendment process of future bills. Sounds like a fair trade.

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