But McConnell wasn’t promised anything. He gave up his demand on the filibuster. He’s using Manchin and Sinema’s positions to claim he has his victory, but he doesn’t have a victory. Schumer won here.
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Stick in a few dollars and pass everything by reconciliation. That’s what McConnell would do,
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So far, 2021 is turning out to be worse for McConnell than 2020 was for most everyone else. Let’s hope this trend continues.
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Some people do occasionally change their minds, a little persuasion from people they trust.
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WTF is Schumer trying to pull? The only reason Mitch caved was he was losing nothing in doing so. 2 DINO’s want to keep the filibuster so it stays…which is what Mitch was holding out for. So the Democrats will move forward with what is normal…placing their folks at the head of committees and Mitch will do what is normal: obstruct the shit out of Biden with the filibuster.
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McConnell is really looking forward to working across the aisle over the next two years to ensure the success of the Manchin-Sinema administration.
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I say we give Moscow Mitch the same assurances he gave the dems in 2016 about considering SC justices during an election year
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I wish I had more confidence in Schumer.
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It’s not over.
Sinema and Manchin were never votes to toss the filibuster. I think Schumer told them to make their statements and allow Yertle to fold with some level of grace.
The question is (and it remains unanswered), "Are Manchin and Sinema willing to vote for filibuster reform’, for example, forcing the minority to show and cast 40 (better, 45) votes to keep a bill from the floor?
I think that is a perfectly reasonable compromise position. As it stands now, the majority has to martial marshal its forces and call Senators back to close debate. The minority doesn’t have to do dick, except to object. Force the minority to act, keep them from their districts and their donor$ for a change.
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I watched Maddow’s interview with Schumer last night, and evidently McConnell folded during the airing of the interview. I’m not buying that it was because of Manchin and Sinema; we knew about their positions before the interview was aired. Something else was the reason, and McConnell was pleased to have Manchin and Sinema to throw under the bus (as was Schumer, by the way). Schumer refused to tell Maddow what he had planned; he just said something along the lines of “wait and see”. I’m intrigued, but I doubt seriously that it was Manchin and Sinema that changed his mind. (And don’t get me wrong. I think it was foolish for either of them to take that position. I just don’t think that is why he folded.)
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Nancy?
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He’s safe. There’s two asshole Democrats in the Senate ( that should be gone even if that means a GOP’er goes in ) that care more about reelection than the heath and welfare of the USA.
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The “wait and see” is pretty easy to suss out. Schumer had twisted enough arms and made enough compromises in the Democratic caucus to get an acceptable (to him) organizing resolution passed without any Republican votes. I don’t know what that resolution looks like (and we’ll probably never know), but there was something in it distasteful enough to Yertle that he folded.
Schumer didn’t particularly want to pass an organizing resolution without Republican votes, either. Alienating half the body is not a good way to run a legislature.
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Think about what you’ve just written. If GOP hacks go into those seats (e.g., Jeff Flake in AZ and worse-than-Flake in WV), Moscow Mitch is Senate Majority Leader.
Yes, we need more and better Democrats, but not if the price is a GOP majority leader.
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Exactly. The question is what was being proposed.
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He’s going to be the Senate majority leader until there are 50 Democrats in the Senate. Right now there are 48. Mitch is the Majority leader. The filibuster not the size of his caucus makes him that. Mitch is becoming increasingly more unpopular in KY. Let that cook until he gets the message. I’d boot that DINO shit from AZ and WV in a heartbeat no matter who filled the seat.
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Just imagine how much the Republicans will reduce the image of the Senate when they support Gym Jordon for Portman’s seat
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As I’ve been thinking about this, my question is what happened that forced McConnell to give up his position. My guess, as of this morning, is that Schumer had the votes for a nuclear option approach to the organizing resolution.
The essence of the nuclear option is having a simple majority override the Senate Parliamentarian when he or she rules that a supermajority is needed to alter Senate rules mid-session. That’s how McConnell eliminated the filibuster on supreme court nominees, and that’s also how Reid changed the rules to eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominees to lower courts.
My guess is that Schumer had the votes (all of the Democrats, maybe, or maybe Murkowski or Romney to replace some combination of Manchin, Sinema, or Feinstein) to change the rules on the organizing resolution and force its passage by simple majority. In other words, Schumer threatened to go nuclear and McConnell folded.
This is all pure speculation. If I’m right, though, what does this mean for the rest of the session? I’m not sure. Most likely we’re back to 2009 with conservative Democrats loathe to eliminate the filibuster and centrist Democrats using them as cover to avoid difficult votes (looking at you, Kay Hagan—how’d that work out?). But it’s also possible that Schumer could apply the same approach to other votes, effectively reforming the filibuster (i.e., lowering the cloture threshold) or even eliminating it except on paper.
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Apparently they don’t want to be in the position of casting a deciding vote on anything controversial.
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Oh c’mon. This was a non-starter from the get-go. It’s like screaming ‘abortion’ and ‘tax and spend’ the minute a Democrat runs for office. The filibuster isn’t going anywhere while Manchin is in office.
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