Don’t tell me later will be better, cuz you’re stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it U2 Stuck in a moment
Because that’s what we’re really talking about here. The only change that the Democrats figure to make to the filibuster is to force the GOP to get off of their fat asses, waddle down to the well of the Senate, and yammer away like the flock of mad magpies they are.
To actually get Biden’s agenda passed, what the Democrats have to do is to reform the Cloture Rule to end floor debate and call the bill to the floor for s simple up and down vote. And a simple majority vote is all that is required to drop the Cloture vote from 60 to 40. And that’s the keys to the kingdom, right there.
Mitch McConnell is terrified that this new, suddenly purposeful Democratic caucus will actually pull the trigger and drop the cloture rule to a simple majority vote. And if that happens, McConnell is boned sideways. Because McConnell has been hiding behind the concept of the filibuster.
This is due to the fact that under the rampant abuse of the filibuster by McConnell for the past several years, there isn’t another word in the English language that is both so universally recognized. And at the same time so universally misunderstood, especially by those who don’t follow politics.
Here’s what I mean. Just ask anybody you know, or even someone you don’t, Hey, you know what the filibuster is, don’t you? I guarantee you that the answer will be, Sure! That’s that politics thing. But if you ask them how it actually works, the answer is more likely than not to be, I dunno exactly, but the Senate uses it on almost every bill. McConnell has so normalized the concept of the filibuster, making it expected, that people don’t understand what it is, namely a malicious form of obstruction to keep good things from getting done.
But they sure as shit will learn, and quickly. When they’re watching the 6 pm news at night, and the broadcast flips to a shot of Cruz, or Hawley, or Paul standing at the rostrum, spewing out gibberish, while the newscaster explains that the GOP is using the filibuster to keep the $15 an hour wage from getting a vote, people will start asking each other, Did you see what those asshole Republicans are doing? They’re talking up a fit to try to keep the $15 an hour wage from getting passed! Suddenly it’s not just a concept anymore, but a clear tactic of delay and obstruction. And if they do it on every bill, people will only get more and more pissed off.
And I like McConnell’s dark threat even better, because it’s so much worse for him if he tries to pull it off, and he knows it. When multiple Democrats took to the floor of the Senate to openly bring up filibuster reform, Moscow Mitch himself slithered to the rostrum, and muttered dark threats about a post apocalyptic Senate wasteland if the Democrats tried it, including such parliamentary stall tactics as quorum calls.
Please, Dios, let the stupid bastard try it, it’s a kamikaze run for the GOP. In order for the Senate to conduct business, a quorum be present. That means a simple majority of the total chamber, or 51 Senators, including at least one Senator from each party.
Let’s just say that Schumer wants to hold a vote to pass the George Floyd Police Reform Act. The vote is scheduled on the agenda. When voting day rolls around, McConnell orders every single GOP Senator to stay home, thereby stopping Schumer from holding the vote, since he doesn’t have a quorum.
See why I said that this was a suicide mission for the GOP? If people don’t like the GOP using stupid pet tricks like the filibuster, once they learn what it is, how does McConnell think they’re going to feel when he starts pulling arcane shit that nobody has ever even heard of before? What’s with these asshole Republicans anyway?! We pay them a shit load of money, and they can’t even show up for work? And yes, the House GOP caucus is already more than batshit crazy enough for the sins of the fathers in the Senate to spill over to the brats in the House.
What is it that people love to keep saying? Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If/when the Democrats pass a talking filibuster, and drop the cloture vote threshold from 60-50, then the filibuster as a tool becomes useless to McConnell and the GOP. Because they rely on the ephemeral misunderstood concept of what the filibuster is. But once they actually have to use it as intended, and people realize what it is, a tool for a bunch of power hungry losers to abrogate majority rule, they’ll ride the GOP out of town on a rail. And Moscow Mitch knows it.
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Do eet!
And, over the last couple of decades when the GOP would threaten their filibusters and a cloture vote would *finally* be achieved with that 60-vote requirement, the bill would inevitably be passed with a slight majority (somewhere in the 52-55 vote range). including members of the filibustering minority party. (I seem to recall a few instances when the cloture vote was achieved, the bill would actually end up passing with more votes than had ended cloture. I think these were votes that had been purposely filibustered just for pure show. McConnell knew the bill would pass; he just wanted to gum up the works as much as possible to prove some kind of point.)
We need to stop playing their games and show them we mean business! I do agree that the more they pull these obstruction stunts, the worse they will look to the general public. At least the ones that watch actual news.
Agree with Cheryl and others. Well worth trying it. Can you take steps to contact someone in the House or Senate about this and your other legislative suggestion?
Cheryl, I mean. : )
I hate auto correct. : (