Do you live in AZ? Call Kyrsten Sinema. She seems like a fine person but she may not know Mitch McConnell like Democrats who’ve had the misfortune of working with him know the guy. She could use a reminder that Democrats will get slaughtered if they roll over to McConnell’s endless bad faith obstruction and accomplish nothing in the next two years. He won’t compromise and if you offer him good faith he won’t reciprocate.
Sinema has […] made it clear that she will not go along with her Democratic colleagues. Her office said recently that she is “not open to changing her mind.”
A spokesperson for Sinema told the Post that the senator is “against eliminating the filibuster, and she is not open to changing her mind about eliminating the filibuster.”
This is suicide. If you live in AZ or know someone who does, please ask her office to reconsider.
Meanwhile, if you have a Republican Senator then let them know the party won’t recover until they cut Trump out of it. If that sounds like it contradicts what I just said, well yes, both things can be true at the same time. Pollyannish Charlie Brownism can cut the Democratic party’s achilles tendon before Biden ever gets a chance to govern, and Trumpism can permanently destroy the GOP’s credibility unless they act now to sever it and cauterize the stump. If someone’s going to make a mistake, I’d rather it be them than us.
From Both Sides of the Pond
I don’t understand the insanity. McConnell famously knows one thing when in the minority – obstruction. When in the majority, he pushes it aside – see the cancellation of the filibuster for SCOTUS nominees as a reference. So why would anyone want to hold on to something that at this point can only be used against themselves?
matt the semi-reasonable
I suspect that Sinema’s taking bribes.
John Revolta
Sinema, a former Green, impresses me as a professional contrarian, or someone who just enjoys calling attention to herself.
Bnad
If we shouldn’t be able to undo the filibuster, there are a ton of things we can pass via reconciliation, right? The 2017 tax bill and attempted repeal of Obamacare were both done under reconciliation rules.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Bnad: There are limits to what can be included in reconciliation and IIRC it can only be used once a year, it was designed to pass a budget.
pacem appellant
Here in CA we have the once great, but now insufferable, Diane Feinstein as our Senior Senator, emphasis on Senior. If she had already retired, she’d be remembered as one of the state’s greatest politicians, but now she’s well past her “sell-by” date and is just an obstruction to Democrats.
Raoul Paste
Maybe the Arizonans who voted for her are okay with this
If not, she needs to learn whom she works for
Major Major Major Major
My interpretation is that she wants to be dragged into doing this, so, call away, Arizonans!
I still think the legislative filibuster will be gone (or, to give her a fig leaf, merely basically gone in its current form) by this fall. We just have to go through the motions. It will be aggravating.
Peale
Since we’re now going to end up with nothing for our efforts anyway, I’d almost rather she’d leave the party and go Caucus with the GOP. Apparently she isn’t interested in being a member of the party that worked to elect her and imagines that she’s in office due to the good will of her “voters”, rather than the work of the party faithful in her home state. She’s basically shitting on all the other Democratic Senators. Why is she in the party if she feels that it shouldn’t ever enact its policies?
patrick II
@pacem appellant:
Just to perk you up, Feinstein just filed to run again.
catclub
This sure sounds like the same inviolate ‘senate rules’. If you get a majority to change them, then they are changed.
Peale
@Major Major Major Major: I think the promotion from House member to Senator wasn’t quite deserved. She’s acting like a 2nd rate manager who somehow got a promotion to assistant VP and only wanted the promotion because it came with access to an admin assistant, who’ll she’ll treat horribly anyway.
Served
This is fine to say at this point in the “negotiation”
this is amateur hour:
brantl
This bodes quite ill.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Peale: That’d Moscow Mitch’s wet dream.
Roger Moore
@Bnad:
Reconciliation is very limited. The idea is that it’s supposed to be able to reconcile spending to the budget, so it’s only usable once a year and only on things that are closely related to the budget. It can’t be used to pass arbitrary non-budgetary legislation, e.g. a new voting rights act.
Ksmiami
@Peale: I agree. I think tbh that our government systems don’t work anymore and 100 senators have too much power in this country. Fuck her if she doesn’t understand the seriousness of this moment
Kropacetic
It’s not enough to just say “no.” She knows why her colleagues want to eliminate the filibuster. She should offer an alternative reform.
Peale
@?BillinGlendaleCA: And? The GOP is going to retain the chairs of all the committees anyway as it stands.
Betty Cracker
I think I read somewhere that Schumer will be interviewed by Maddow tonight. Might be worth tuning in, to see what his strategy is on this. The thing is, we’re not even talking about McConnell using the filibuster to kill popular legislation. He’s trying to use it to cling to majority power with 50 + 0! He won’t even approve the goddamned agreement so Ossoff and Warnock can be seated on committees and Dems can replace Reps as committee chairs. It’s truly outrageous, but I expect most voters don’t have a clue what’s going on.
catclub
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That’d Moscow Mitch’s wet dream.
There are two possible ways for McConnell to work that. Since he is the top fundraiser in the Senate, he can direct where campaign funds go.
He tells Sinema “I can make your re-election campaign easier than average.” and can back it up.
henrythefifth
With Dems like her, get ready for 2009-11 redux. Over a year of “negotiating” over Obamacare so that EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN votes against it. It’s like a hamster wheel in hell.
piratedan
Called her local Tucson and DC offices. Was able to get thru and leave a voice mail, for what’s that worth.
Peale
@Betty Cracker: “We got here first”. So now I guess the new standard is that the Dems need at least 53-54 senators before they can be considered to have a majority.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Peale: That was never in the cards.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@John Revolta:
Sinema, a former Green, impresses me as a professional contrarian, or someone who just enjoys calling attention to herself.
My sense, too. Also a fairly shallow person who likes to think of herself as a deep and interesting thinker. Someone said the other day that she has designs on higher office? I guess that may mean the AZ governorship, but personally I think President is the only higher office (Senate to Governor seems more a lateral move, to me)
@Bnad:
If we shouldn’t be able to undo the filibuster, there are a ton of things we can pass via reconciliation, right?
Everything budget-related that Sinema, as well as Jon Tester– who’s dragging his feet— and Joe Manchin and Angus King and the Lindsey Hugger are willing to vote for.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
Nope. Budget reconciliation is a law (part of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974) not just a Senate rule. As such, it can only be changed by another law passed by Congress and approved by the President.
Ksmiami
Ps. I’m not nice anymore- I’m a hardened partisan out to destroy The GOP before the party destroys America
Served
I called both of my senators about abolishing the filibuster, but put a little more mustard on it when I talked to Durbin’s. There’s something about senators where once they are in the club, they go from D-Illinois to D-Senate
?BillinGlendaleCA
@catclub: Then, why hasn’t that happened?
HumboldtBlue
@patrick II:
I don’t think she has officially filed yet, I think she’s keeping the door open and even that is terrible news. It’s time for her to resign.
Kattails
OK just gonna note this nice snark and then shut the freakin’ computer down so i can get shit done. Anyway–comment over at Stonekettle: “COVID is no joke. One former patient was so brain damaged afterwards, that he thought he won an election he lost by 7 million votes.”
catclub
lol.
Mitch McConnell always offered an alternate to laws the Democrats proposed from 2009- till 2014, rather than reflexively opposing.
terraformer
Regarding the whole “we can’t even replace the Rs as Chairs” thing, I’m just left wondering how the holy hell something like winning the majority doesn’t automatically result in the winning side having those Chairs. Why the holy fvck is this even a discussion or negotiation? I guess chalk this up as another example of rational/reasonable/obvious things being exactly not.
catclub
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Same reason the filibuster is still around.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Historically, Governors have a better chance of being elected President that a Senator, Pete Wilson gave up his Senate seat for the Governorship(and ran for President).
Chetan Murthy
I live in CA (SF) and I called her anyway. I reminded her that I donated to her campaign, and that I’ve donated a ton of money I can’t afford, to campaigns these last two cycles. That we collectively donated $14B and countless hours of work, to get her into a position to GOVERN. And that that is what we expect her to fucking do: govern.
I will call again, and next time I’ll have a script, and it will include donating to her Democratic primary opponent in 2024, if she doesn’t fucking get religion on this.
We all sacrificed a lot, to get her in a position to fucking govern. She needs to get some gonads, ffs.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@catclub: No, leaving the party is an entirely different matter than changing the filibuster rule.
Major Major Major Major
@Peale:
So she’s acting like a Senator.
Kropacetic
wha…?
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: My impression is that Schumer is trying not so much to blow up the filibuster right now as holding out for Senate rules that keep filibuster reform on the table, and McConnell is trying to preclude this. The rest of the Caucus, including Manchin, seem to be backing Schumer up on this score. I’ll be interested to see what Schumer has to say to Maddow. He’s a very cogent advocate. I wish I could watch them, but I’ll just read about it afterwards.
John Revolta
@terraformer: I think it’s because technically, we don’t HAVE a majority. Of Senators, that is.
piratedan
@Major Major Major Major: also remember, she was running as the iconic Democratic Arizonan, which means a healthy patina of independent to her political makeup. Usually that shit is simply boiler-plate. It could be part of her “complex individual” schtick.
The other item we have to remember, that Sinema won, not entirely on her strength as a candidate; with more than a nod to the quality and idiocy of her opponent, Martha McSally.
MisterForkbeard
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Interestingly, the Republicans seem to have waived the “it must be budget neutral” part of the reconciliation when they took over the Senate.
I wonder if we can waive the “can only be used once a year” thing.
ETA: Or pass a rule change to only allow the filibuster on things that aren’t “reconciliation-like” and get around it that way.
John Revolta
@Kropacetic: Adjust sarc detector
Major Major Major Major
@Geminid: this is especially weird to me because there’s no such thing as a senate rule that keeps you from changing the senate rules.
Another Scott
@Major Major Major Major: I’m basically in this camp with you (6-feet away), too.
It’s still very, very early. We don’t need to panic just yet.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kropacetic
It’s one of those unspoken rules that only bind Democrats.
Major Major Major Major
@Kropacetic: yeah I figure Mitch is counting on the Dems being too shy to renege, but I don’t think that’s a winning bet this time.
Chetan Murthy
@terraformer: It’s a puzzlement, isn’t it? It seems (from what I’ve read) that a normal resolution (like the organizing resolution, that installs the committees, chairs, rules, etc) can be filibustered. But a “procedural resolution” can be used to remove the filibuster, and it itself cannot be filibustered. So, because Yertle is blocking (with, effectively, a filibuster, b/c all it takes is saying “I filibuster” to do so) the organizing resolution, in order to make progress the Dems are forced to use a procedural vote to remove the filibuster.
And Sinema refuses to vote for that procedural resolution.
I just called Feinstein (one of my senators) and got a very nice woman on the line, told her the same things I told Sinema (in a message, sigh). I also just called Cortez-Masto. I plan to call Schumer tomorrow, probably other Senators (e.g. Manchin).
Let’s call ’em all, let ’em ALL know that we’re angry about this. Even the stalwart ones (whom obviously we’ll thank for their work, but remind that in The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body, they need to tell their colleagues to fucking WORK FOR US).
Kropacetic
Problem is that it only takes one and, for certain people, there’s huge cultural cachet in being that one
VFX Lurker
@pacem appellant:
I’ve lived here in California for 20+ years. Voters have made clear that no better candidate than Feinstein exists. In 2018, I knew no one who could name her problematic Democratic opponent on the November ballot.
Another Scott
So, I have WashingtonMonthly in the collection of tabs I cycle through every few days. Today I saw this and did a double take. Is it really him? Is it really a serious column on the topic that just about everyone cites as a joke about him??!
Yes. Yes. It really is.
Wow.
Cheers,
Scott.
Peale
@Chetan Murthy: Yep. That’s what’s so frustrating with her. She basically is letting everyone know that she’d rather keep the filibuster than be in charge. She’s like that fucking moron who may or may not have finally beat Nethanyahu in an election, but decided to announce that he wasn’t up to governing during a pandemic so now the opposition is back to square 1. It does not make any sense to us why you’d run for office but decide the opposition party was better off in charge. Just resign and go home then. Don’t take up any space.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: Agree with you and Major Major Major Major.
Chetan Murthy
@Geminid: FWIW, I find that reliably, an hour or so after Maddow finishes, I can find it on Youtube.
Geminid
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t understand it myself. But Schumer and McConnell are at loggerheads over something, and Schumer’s caucus members talk like it is a consequential matter. Maybe Schumer will explain it tonight.
Chetan Murthy
@Peale: I think it’s time for a concerted campaign. Maybe “Honor the Voters, Honor their Sacrifice”. Something. Call ALL the Senators, get them ALL to pressure the ones that are holding out.
I’ve NEVER donated money to CA Reps/Sens, b/c I figured: to get them to where they can govern is more important. So all the money’s gone to candidates all over the country. And we need to let them ALL know that we’re counting on them, expecting them, to DO THEIR JOBS.
$14B in donations. People working innumerable hours, waiting innumerable hours in lines to vote, risking covid to vote. These Senators need to DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS.
LurkerNoLonger
How very Republican of her. Take a breath and reconsider:
gene108
Seems like Sinema, Manchin, and maybe one or two others want the filibuster to avoid having to make votes that could be branded as too liberal in attack ads against them.
Manchin is probably toast just because his state is getting more Republican as time goes on.
Sinema’s state is becoming more Democratic. She needs to understand this.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: Hah!
Just Some Fuckhead
Anyone know how many Republicans are open to eliminating the unconstitutional filibuster?
Kropacetic
Make sure to ask again when they’re in charge.
Chetan Murthy
@Just Some Fuckhead: Sadly, it’s not unconstitutional. The Senate is free to make its own rules, and this is merely a rule. And as for how many? Well, it depends on whether they’re in the majority or the minority. When they’re in the majority again, I’m sure they’ll do it — after all, it’s already gone for appointments (IIRC).
Just Some Fuckhead
Well, no. The Senate can’t actually make a rule, for instance, requiring 100 votes to pass legislation. The constitution lays out a simple majority. So a 60 vote threshold to advance legislation is a defacto end around the constitution. It should also be noted that the filibuster didn’t start as a rule. It started as an accident when Aaron Burr suggested the Senate get rid of a bunch of redundant rules. One of the rules they killed then allowed the filibuster.
AnonPhenom
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Yeah, I went through that a couple of weeks ago. This is his 4th post/article. He appears to write for the Washington Post now.
gene108
@patrick II:
Strom Thurmond died in office at 100 years old or so.
Robert Byrd died in office at 92.
She has company for serving as a 90+ year old.
I also think for some elderly people, who are still working it is the work that keeps them alive.
Joe Paterno comes to mind. His health went down hill very quickly after losing his job.
Geminid
@piratedan: Martha McSally was not a great candidate, but she was hardly a pushover for Mark Kelly. He ran a little ahead of Joe Biden, but still only beat McSally by 80,000 votes out of 3.3 million cast. Sinema has strayed from the liberal line ever since she entered the Senate, and Arizona Democrats periodically threaten her with censure. She probably assumes a primary contest in 2024, and plans on winning it, and then successfully defending the “Goldwater seat” in the general election.
MisterForkbeard
@AnonPhenom: Does McConnell retain control of the Senate Calendar and so on until this organizing Resolution happens?
If not, that might just be it. Declare a completely separate set of committees and just shove the business of the nation over there. Some things would break badly (like permanent select committees with special responsibilities and privileges).
Chetan Murthy
@Geminid:
Times like this, I think to myself: “stop donating to campaigns in other states; focus on CA and local elections, and prepare for fucking secession”. Goddammit, this makes me so fucking angry
P.S. No, I’m not serious. But jesus, we’re supposed to just TAKE this? Fuck. She’ll be another Feinstein in 20yr.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Geminid: Fun trivia, both AZ Senate seats were held by Goldwater.
Mai Naem mobile
I have called Sinema’s office several times. A couple of times the intern or whoever answered the phone supposedly had no idea what Sinema’s position was on the filibuster. Are you fucking kidding me? Do you really think the average person calling your f(&king office buys that? I wasn’t rude or anything but I did pet the person know that I had donated to her campaign and that there was no way the VRA was going to pass with a filibuster . The VRA is supposedly important to Sinema.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geminid:
Didn’t most polls show Kelly up by high single-digits, at least ? Not terribly relevant, but I’ve been thinking that Georgia was about the only (swing) state that polled anywhere near accurately– damn close– before the election.
piratedan
@Geminid: to be fair, Kelly has to run again first in 2022. If she continues to play footsie with the Right, I would expect her to get challenged by Ruben Gallego, one of our current Congressional contingent.
She’s not exactly building a base, she caught lightning in a bottle and while incumbency is a helluva drug, a decorated Dem Hispanic vet could give her a serious challenge.
Patricia Kayden
So Sinema is okay with nothing of significance getting done. Good to know.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@piratedan: But, she’s not up for re-elect until 2024.
Major Major Major Major
@Just Some Fuckhead: Where does the constitution say that the Senate may only require a simple majority to pass bills?
Major Major Major Major
@gene108:
Then Feinstein should find a job where not knowing what day it is isn’t an impediment.
Cameron
@Another Scott: Wow! You hit the trifecta: Tweetie rhapsodizing on the Gip ‘n Tip bromance. I still have time to go get a pint of rum; that should be enough to erase this from my memory.
Served
And Manchin “pledges to McConnell” he won’t support filibuster removal in the next two years. Yank his chairmanship already.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/25/joe-manchin-filibuster-462364
Schumer is coming off as a total loser and failure, and we’ll all have to suffer for it.
bluehill
This is a low risk bet for Mitch. If dems agree, significant win for him. If they don’t, he’s not much worse off than he would have been anyways, and he’s slowed things down for the dems. I think he’s hoping to stretch this out and let the anger over the insurrection die down and hope dems start taking hits for COVID and the economy, especially if the B.1.1.7 variant is as bad as some fear.
Chetan Murthy
@Served: Time for a call to Manchin’s office.
Major Major Major Major
@Served: There are plenty of ways to change the filibuster that don’t “get rid” of it, they’re all just trying to get the rules agreement passed right now so they can get to business, and then can “reform” the filibuster down the road.
@bluehill: Dems are already getting the ball rolling for using reconciliation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/01/25/biden-stimulus-relief/
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chetan Murthy: if you don’t live in West Virginia all you’re doing is harassing his office staff
Baud
I’ll play devil’s advocate. Mcconnell wants a promise that the Dems won’t eliminate the filibuster and Schumer isn’t going to give that to him. Siena’s sternness puts pressure on McConnell to abandon his quest so things can move forward. Someone has to give or the Dems will be forced to eliminate the filibuster now, which moderate Dems don’t want to do.
Chetan Murthy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I donated the Federal maximum to his campaign in 2018. As they say, “money is speech”. He’ll hear my angry words, and he’ll know that if he runs for dogcatcher, he won’t get my contributions, doing this sorta shit.
Steeplejack
Adam Jentleson just starting on MSNBC with Ari Melber! He’s the guy who has the new book Kill Switch, about the Senate. I want to hear what he says.
Mai Naem mobile
@Major Major Major Major: DiFi is worth some serious money so its not like she needs the $$$. She’s had a genuinely interesting life(SF official etc during Moscone/Milk) and I am sure Stanford or Berkeley would find a spot for her for her collection or institute or whatever. Hell, she could join the Hoover Institution and fit right in there. Become BFFs with Condi Rice and Scott Atlas. Seriously, fucking Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown are made to take tough votes while Ms. Blue State DiFi gets away with not being true blue? WTF.
bluehill
@Major Major Major Major: Good! Hope they stick to the timeline. This isn’t like ACA, and I think Mitch knows that, so this seems like a good way to call his bluff.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Major Major Major Major:
“The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”
Baron von Chaos
I’ve had to suffer through Sinema’s “representation” since she became my congressperson in ’13. I’m involved in local politics. All my other local, state, and federal representatives know me by sight if not also by name. But I’ve never met her, as she never seems to be around. She supposedly once declared that she was a “Prada wearing socialist.” She was a Nader delegate in 2000.
I don’t trust her outside of women’s and LGBT issues. So for the first time in my life, I called her office and left a voice message just now advising how disappointed I was with her filibuster position.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Damn it! Jentleson said that the pressures on Republican senators to obstruct are too strong for them to overcome, and Ari Melber just let that lie there and went to a commercial and his next segment. Didn’t ask Jentleson what pressures and why are they so strong! Why bother have a fucking expert on your show if you’re just going to do a shallow, pro forma bit? Melber is usually—okay, sometimes—better than this.
We’ll see if Rachel Maddow does any better with Chuck Schumer later. I’m not holding my breath, not because of Maddow but because Schumer is such a mush-mouth.
janesays
@patrick II: Seriously??? What the everloving fuck?!?
The woman will be 91 fucking years old in 2024. I get that she probably fancies herself as the female Robert Byrd/Strom Thurmond, but both of those assholes should have retired long before their senate tenures ended (in Thurmond’s case, preferably before it even started).
I don’t want her to die prematurely, but honestly, if the only thing that is going to ensure she’s not still a senator after her current term is her death, well, then I hope she dies before the next election. And no, I don’t feel bad about saying that because guess what? Nanogenarians die all the fucking time. It happens.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
Left to themselves, they’ll see it as “congressional gridlock” or, worse, “do-nothing Democrats.”
Haroldo
Manchin has effectively started caucusing with the Republicans – I won’t be at all surprised if he makes a formal break with the Dems. Unclear what Sinema’s on about. (The mavericky, think-for-herself independent ?)
Nora Lenderbee
@janesays:
Those would be very tiny old ladies, wouldn’t they?
janesays
@John Revolta: Neither do they.
janesays
…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Haroldo: If he was going to do that, he’d done it years ago.
pacem appellant
@patrick II: I’m hoping that is just to move money campaign around. Oh please, oh please, don’t actually run again.
@VFX Lurker: I’ve live here my whole live (I’m not going to say my age, but it’s more than 20+). She has build up a lot of good political good will and capital. Some of it earned. But now she’s using it to stymy Democratic efforts, and it’s frustrating that she’s going to end her incredible political legacy by being mostly remembered as the senile Senator who hugged Lindsay Graham during the sham Barrett confirmations.
Geminid
@Haroldo: If Joe Manchin wanted to leave the Democratic party he would have left already. Why would he have voted to convict trump over the Ukraine matter if he wanted to be a Republican? He’s actually not that far to the right of fellow Caucus members King, Sinema, and Tester. Who are not that far to the right of Warner, Coons and maybe Kelly. As for the matter at hand- the new Senate operating rule- Axios quoted Manchin as saying, “Chuck is right to do what he is trying to do. He has the right to use [the filibuster] to leverage what he is trying to do….they (the Republicans) are not going to grind this place to a halt.”
cain
@Another Scott:
I’ve always liked Jon Tester – I don’t mind this position. This should be the case for Sinema as well. I’m not too worried about Manchin.. I think he’ll come around once he realizes that no work is getitng done, just like Tester.
Sinema should understand that as a _freshman_ senator, she is vulnerable if she doesn’t something to accomplish. If she has designs on higher office then her ability to negotiate and actually be a politician is going to be an important one.
Making hardline comments in public is amateur hour.
cain
And she will have accomplished nothing as well, and shot herself in the foot because there won’t be any bills for the next two years to vote on. She will have nothing to show for it. She is only a 1 term senator.
Suzanne
Kyrsten Sinema sucks. I told y’all this. She’s not a fine person. She’s a craven political operator.
Haroldo
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
@Geminid
Politico is quoting Manchin that he will not vote to end the filibuster. Greg Sargeant is likewise quoting Manchin, though a little more forcefully. (Manchin thinks ‘Schumer and McConnell should work it out by themselves.’ This is not the behavior of someone who wants to be a Democrat.
Suzanne
@piratedan: I don’t think Gallego has any chance statewide. I love him. Candidates I love don’t win statewide in AZ.
I am really missing AZ right now so it is good to remember this.
Haroldo
@Haroldo:
I know Manchin has voted with the Democrats in the past when push came to shove. I think push is coming to shove right now and Manchin, if we are to believe especially the Greg Sergeant quotes, is not acting like a Senator who’s going to vote with the Democrats.
Anya
Is there a filibuster one issue voters? I really don’t understand why is this where some blue dog senators are drawing the line? Did the filibuster help us stop Trump? Aside from repealing the ACA, I don’t remember a single time it helped us.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Haroldo:
He’s infuriating, but I suspect if Manchin wanted to jump the aisle he would have done so by now. I think this is the behavior of someone who genuinely thinks of himself as a “statesman”
Then again, he’s never been in a 50/50 Senate before, so…
Geminid
@Haroldo: Well, it certainly doesn’t sound like the behavior of someone whom you want to be a Democrat. Do you have Democratic Senators? Have you contacted them and demanded that they expell Manchin from the Senate Democratic Caucus?
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
Unbelievable.
Chetan Murthy
@Anya:
As I remember, it did not. The GrOPers more-or-less stopped him themselves. They were unable to get bills out of the House when they controlled it.
The ACA -mandate- repeal was part of reconciliation, and passed. The ACA “skinny repeal” (to repeal e.g. pre-existing condition protections) failed 51-49 in the Senate.
As someone over at LG&M noted, the GrOPers are so bad at actually passing laws, that Dems don’t get much -use- out of the filibuster. It’s the GrOPers who get most use out of it, to stymie Dems.
Haroldo
@Geminid:
I have two Democratic Senators, both of whom I’ve written concerning the filibuster. Manchin’s imbecility is relatively brand new. Maybe he’ll do us the favor of removing himself from the caucus.
So, do you think he’s helping the Democrats? If not, what do you think he’s doing worthy of your defense?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Haroldo:
Thus giving Mitch McConnell a 51-49 majority? That’ll show those Republicans!
Steve in the ATL
So do I! And I can’t [expletive deleted] believe it!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Chetan Murthy: I find hard to believe an argument could be made that the Filibuster is against the Founders intent, I am sure they all had Cato the Republican on their mind.
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: I ?both your new senators!
Haroldo
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
My point is he’s effectively acting like a Republican now.
The less hot-headed take by some is that Cornyn is viewing Manchin’s and Sinema’s promise that they’ll not vote to eliminate the filibuster as a compromise, and that maybe, just maybe, new organizational rules can be agreed upon.
So here’s what I don’t get, and perhaps you can help me here: New rules are put into place. The filibuster still exists. McConnell will still be able to obstruct. He will obstruct – he knows nothing else. How does Biden advance his legislative agenda in the face of 60 votes needed for cloture? I don’t see away around this. I hope I am wrong.
Haroldo
@Steve in the ATL:
And that’s a wonderful thing! Here’s hoping they’ll get to help do away with the filibuster (or parts of it).
agorabum
This is all about being able to mournfully note in a month’s time that she had thought McConnell wanted America to succeed but he just has so abused the procedural protections that it just isn’t being handled in good faith and so she regretfully agrees to a change or to requiring a speaking filibuster or some such thing. Or allowing broadened reconciliation.
Omnes Omnibus
Calm the fuck down. People with big egos are positioning themselves for best advantage in upcoming fight. I could see the Dem doubters coming along in the end in a more in sorrow than anger posture while saying that the GOP drove them to it.
Formica
OMFG. I was just explaining this particularly rancid Beltway affliction to the wife the other night. To see it live, in the wild, without a hint of irony in 2021 is sublime.
something fabulous
@Another Scott: Boo! Now I have given a click to Chris Matthews! They don’t care *why* I did.
Should come with a… Tweety Warning!