Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) claimed victory on Monday night after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) finally agreed to a power-sharing resolution and dropped his demand that Democrats commit to preserving the filibuster.
Democratic Senators represent forty million more people than rethugs. This cannot be said often enough.
Sounds like Biden’s agenda has been shot down from the start. Where have we seen this before? Thanks Joe M. and Kyrsten S.
Chuck needs to start arm-twisting his caucus the way McConnell as always done if the Dems are going to get anything meaningful (anything period…?) passed through the Senate.
McConnell is the most despicable person, just didn’t want to give up his power. The Rethugs keep talking about unity which is such a pile of crap, only wanting it when it suits them and wait to see how unified they are on passing the relief bill. They think their job is preserving their power and has absolutely nothing to do with their constituents.
I’m just going to assume the story isn’t over on this. It’s that or go nuts.
Sinema is not terribly smart. Sure, she isn’t up for re-election until 2024. But if the Dems lose ground in 2022, she will be largely to blame for her moronic stance on the filibuster and will face a primary.
Steamroll the Rethugs! It’s the only method they understand.
Manchin is the most left we are going to get out of WV. We need DC admitted as a state ASAP so he can vote against the democratic platform and keep his seat in Methland.
Simena needs a primary challenger. She isn’t up for election until 2024 and she’s acting like this procedural issue is going to be what her voters care about in 4 years. I didn’t realize she was so stupid.
Alright, who stapled Chuck’s balls back on?
Whoever it was, thank you!!!
We now run the committees.
McConnell is a piece of shit, no doubt. But, even when he was majority leader, he only gets away with it because the other Republicans find it acceptable. A couple of Republicans, working with Democrats, could have removed him at any time over the last 10 years.
He basically acts as a voluntary scapegoat for the rest of the Republicans Senators.
What was Manchin’s position when McConnell removed the filibuster for SC nominations? Is he now in favor of bringing it back? What about Sinema?
Simena and Manchin lose a great deal of influence if the filibuster stays in place. Without it, they decide if a democratic bill passes or not. With it, they are the least influential members of the democratic caucus (arguably - sorry Bernie and Angus)…
There it is, folks. The fix is in.
Welcome. Interesting question. My hope is that once the Rs show their total obstruction, views will change. The obstruction will happen; you can count on it.
That’s the bottom line. One step at a time.
This sums it up. Let’s see how much Manchin and Simena like being the rump of the GOSP party. Not that Democrats will treat them that way, but it sort of is where they put themselves. The GOSP party plays pretty mean with anyone associated with the word Democrat, and they are fools to eat the same shit the GOSP is eating.
IMO, neither her nor Manchin is taking a smart position here.
I was thinking about this last night, and I could not come up with a single thing that Dems were able to filibuster as the minority party. Not a one. McConnell and republicans really could care less about Dems stopping legislation, that’s their standard point of view. And when it comes to the rare piece of legislation they want passed like tax cuts, they just bastardize the reconciliation process to pass it anyway.
So where we stand now, is that the filibuster is exclusively a tool of the republican party, not the minority party, because the meta strategy for the republican party is to not pass any bills. Republicans have largely reduced the Senate to merely passing appropriation bills, tax cuts and approving nominations.
Manchin has been there long enough to have experienced this. Sinema not so much. But both are reacting to a fear of how its elimination would play out from a PR perspective. I think those fears are seriously overplayed, as neither is up for re-election until 2024, and the attention span of voters over such a vote isn’t that long. A vote on killing the filibuster will NOT be the main issue on anybody’s mind in the 2024 election cycle.
One comment I read elsewhere stated to “Just go ahead” and promise McConnell anything, then do what you (Democrats) will…and call it Mitch’s Amy Coney Barrett Rule.