It is because while Senator McConnell agreed last week to the language of the organizing resolution for the Senate – currently doing business as the “rules package” – it has not actually been voted on. Which led to this embarrassing exchange by Senator Durbin, who is supposed to be both the Senate Majority Whip and the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senator Graham who is still the Senate Judiciary Chair.
There is no excuse for Senate Judiciary Republicans to delay Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to be the next Attorney General.
I’m calling on Sen. Graham—who is still Chair of the Committee even though his party is in the minority—to end this delay & schedule this hearing now. pic.twitter.com/k0Txqir4ri
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) February 1, 2021
Justice Barrett wasn’t given a free pass on a routine 4-day hearing during her Supreme Court confirmation, and Judge Garland shouldn’t get one either on his nomination for Attorney General.
Read my full response to Senator Durbin about @senjudiciary hearing for the AG nominee. pic.twitter.com/b20CV3bTbn
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 2, 2021
Why exactly is the Senate still in bizarro world? Me not allowed to explain*:
We’re in this mess because while Senator McConnell stopped objecting to the language in the organizing resolution because, according to him, both Senators Manchin and Sinema personally assured him they’d never vote to get rid of the filibuster for legislation. That all signs good. Manchin and Sinema personally assured him, he no longer objects to the language for the organizing resolution, the Democrats actually get to take control as the majority. And that’s also how it was reported. In every major news outlet and by every political reporter and by every commentator. But that’s not actually what is happening.
In order for the organizing resolution to pass one of two things has to happen. Either it is adopted by unanimous consent or it has to first pass the 60 vote threshold for cloture (the modern filibuster) and then pass the 51 vote simple majority to take effect. I’m sure by now you’ve all figured out that it was not adopted by unanimous consent. Which means it has to be calendared for a cloture vote and if, and only if, it gets 60 or more votes will it then be allowed to be calendared for a 51 vote simple majority vote. Until or unless that happens, Senator Schumer and the Democrats control the Senate floor and the calendar, but that’s it. All the committees maintain their Republican chairs and their Republican majorities under the previous and still in effect organizing resolution.
I’ve seen some reporting indicating that the organizing resolution for the now ongoing current Senate is supposed to be brought up on the floor of the Senate tomorrow. I’ve also seen other reporting that no agreement has been reached on when it will be brought up for a vote. Anyone want to put down money that whenever it does come up for a vote, at least 10 Republicans will vote with the 50 Democrats for cloture? I didn’t think so. If McConnell can keep the organizational resolution in limbo by refusing unanimous consent for it and then not freeing up 10 of his Republican senators to overcome the 60 vote cloture threshold, he’ll maintain defacto status as majority leader through the Republican committee chairs and Republican committee majorities through January 2023. Which is exactly what he wants to do. His strategy now, just as it was beginning in January 2009 in regard to President Obama, is to grind the Senate to a halt; allowing nothing to pass with Republican votes. His objective is too once again retake the Senate majority by making it impossible for the Democratic majority to accomplish anything and thereby make it impossible for President Biden to accomplish anything. And he knows he has a very good chance because the media would far prefer to cover anything other than process, which is boring, or McConnell, because he makes himself boring.
Sleep tight.
Open thread.
* For those who are not fans of Superman and his defective clone Bizarro, that’s Bizarro speak for “allow me to explain”.
On The Road – randy khan – Venice and Environs, Part 6
Sandia Blanca
This is, of course, insane!
sdhays
I don’t understand this. McConnell only gets to control the committees if Manchin and Sinema let him. And are Manchin and Sinema really going to not get the power that they deserve as part of the majority? If this goes on too long, they’ll be forced to vote to ignore the 60-vote cloture rule just to organize the Senate. And once they do it once, it will be a lot easier to convince them to do it again.
It only makes sense if McConnell actually wants the filibuster gone and wants to be able to say that the Democrats ended it. Maybe he does, but as we’ve discussed before, it’s much more useful to him than to the Democrats.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
so fucking depressing that he’s getting away with this…
though his shot at the QAnon lady suggest he sees things not quite going according to his cunning plan….
dmsilev
Would shenanigans like this be enough to convince Manchin and Sinema to join in nuclear-optioning the filibuster? That’s about the only real leverage I can see which might work on Mitch McConnell.
Adam L Silverman
@sdhays: According to close contacts in Arizona, Sinema will never vote to get rid of the filibuster. She makes it quite clear that she understands herself to be solely a delegate for Arizonans and, as such, will not do anything to change the rules because Arizonans didn’t send her to the Senate to do that.
BlueGuitarist
Thanks Adam, as always.
What’s the best way forward?
Adam L Silverman
@BlueGuitarist: The best way would be to get rid of the filibuster. But as of right now Schumer doesn’t have the votes for it. Absent that, the status quo will continue.
Until it doesn’t.
Peale
@dmsilev: no. At this point I’m not going to bother with hopes that the Democrats will control the senate until they get 69 or 70 Senators.
Jay
2023 not 2013, (typo)
mrmoshpotato
@Adam L Silverman:
Did she accidentally run for, and win, a US Senate seat when she meant to run for an Arizona state Senate seat?
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: Thanks.
Benw
So an outgoing Senate minority can filibuster their own transfer of power and maintain control of the Senate until the opposition party elects 61 Senators? That’s the plan?
cain
It’s just pathetic that our own party has members that apparently are rigid. Sinema is an idiot. I hope she enjoys coming back to AZ with nothing – because that is what she is going to get. She will almost certainly be ripe for a challenger – and the Republicans also will anticipate the same thing.
She will spend 5 years in the senate with nothing to do or until the Democrats get a few more seats in two years.
I guess we will continue to rule by executive orders. I wonder what kind of mischief Biden can do to fuck with McConnell?
Adam L Silverman
@mrmoshpotato: No. There are three models in political science for legislators. Trustees, delegates, and hybrid trustee/delegate. The first acts as if they were elected in order to make the best decisions possible using their experience and expertise for those that elected them. The second acts as if they were elected to solely represent the will and desires of those who elected them. The third, which is usually most legislators, is a combination of the two.
From what I’ve been told, Sinema understands herself to be a delegate and that’s it. I’d love to hear from any of our folks from Arizona if this is their take as well.
cain
I guess this means that we need to spend money in AZ to start a campaign to get Sinema to change her mind.
I think Manchin will eventually cave because with all his years in the senate – it must be some bullshit to not be able to have leadership of the committees when you are the fucking majority. Sinema doesn’t even know what all this means.
Adam L Silverman
@Benw: Yes. And it appears to be.
Yutsano
@Adam L Silverman: Basically: The center will hold until it doesn’t. The real question will be when it doesn’t. And I swear if they try to spike Garland AGAIN…
guachi
Biden should have told the ten Senators to pound sand until the Democrats controlled the Senate.
Another Scott
Schumer’s hair isn’t on fire on his Twitter feed, so I assume that he’s not worried about whatever Moscow Mitch is doing.
Here’s hoping it gets resolved soon so that Democrats can start fixing things…
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
RaflW
If you work in journalism and you cannot figure out how to make the complete destruction of the legislative process “interesting” then you should be shot into the sun on a possibly faulty Elon Musk rocketship.
Fuck these fucking fuckers. There’s a pandemic, and Mitch McConnell’s do-nothing isn’t nothing, it’s accessory to murder. Report it.
Peale
@Benw: yep. Our system is stupid. The party is asking for a lot of continued motivation from its long time members that she’s decided to piss away. I doubt she finds six party activists to help on her next campaign.
Chetan Murthy
@mrmoshpotato: Time for an angry phone call to her office, to demand back my contributions from 2018, when I fucking donated to her campaign. If she’s only representing Arizonans, then clearly she fucking doesn’t need Californian’s political contributions.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: He’s not on this because he can move the recovery plan under reconciliation. He’s got two uses of reconciliation per year. And he can’t use it for HR1 or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2021. So if he uses it for the recovery plan he then has one more use he can use for a budget or appropriation or tax reform package or combo package.
Unfortunately it means that HR1 and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act won’t get far until or unless he can get rid of the legislative filibuster.
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: I think she’s even limited herself issues that came up in the campaign. So jamming her phone lines even 10 to 1 with constituent calls expressing preferences won’t work. So she gets to change her mind potentially once every six years or so.
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: Please don’t take this the wrong way, but despite being willing to accept contributions from anyone in America, senators only represent the citizens of their own states. You’ve got two of your own. If you call, email, and/or fax her office and you are not an Arizona resident, whatever your ask is will be ignored.
This is the reality that the posts about call these senators or Congress members ignores. Unless you live in a senator’s state or a congress member’s district, any messages, voicemails, emails, and/or faxes are going to be ignored.
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: From what my contacts in Arizona say, they love her because of this. She only takes stands on things she campaigned on, Arizonans are clearly in support of, and she does great constituent services.
Chetan Murthy
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, I will not take advice from you the wrong way, don’t worry. I always appreciate it.
But here’s the thing: I donated the FEDERAL FUCKING MAXIMUM to her FUCKING CAMPAIGN, and I will let her staffers know what I think in no uncertain terms, that she thinks the many people all across the United States, who donated and worked for her campaign, are supposed to pound sand.
I will remind her staffers, that if she keeps this up, I will be donating to her primary opponent, and telling everybody else I know, to do the same.
It’s not about *asking*. I gave her my fucking money. And I expect her to stand and deliver.
P.S. And sure, I don’t -actually- expect anything to change. But at least, it’ll make me feel better.
Cathie from Canada
So if the Democrats refuse to attend any committee meetings, do the committees fall for lack of quorum?
Or can the Senate just deal with all motions directly, without any committee referrals at all?
It seems strange to me that there is absolutely NOTHING Schumer can do about this ridiculous situation.
Adam L Silverman
@Chetan Murthy: As long as it makes you feel better.
bluehill
For someone who isn’t considered a great tactician, Mitch seems like he’s been pretty effective in stacking the courts, kleptocrating and keeping a minority party in power.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Open Thread…
Progress report on Mabel the cat, I saw her yesterday and she seems happy. Madame said that she seems somewhat puzzled by her now (4) missing teeth.
The kid volunteered to give the Fauchi Ouchie to folk at the big drive thru clinic at The Forum, she did get to keep her safety vest which she seemed to be pretty happy about.
Adam L Silverman
@Cathie from Canada: Schumer can bypass the committees for a lot of stuff. Of course the McConnell and the other Republicans will then flock to the news media claiming that the Democrats are operating outside of regular order and sidelining Republicans by bypassing the committees. And I expect, just as they expect, that the news media will report this exactly as the Republicans claim it to be.
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: I hope a volcano unexpectedly appears in Flagstaff so we can purposefully ignore it until she gets a chance to campaign on it.
Benw
@Adam L Silverman: ugh. I hope this is hyperbolic, but watching Mitch fucking destroying the American experiment is really depressing
mvr
Whatever Sinema says now, I think this will push them into getting rid of the fillibuster if the Rs keep it up. FWIW, none of these people is completely stupid. I like Sinema as a Senator from AZ. Those who voted for her did not vote for her to defend the fillibuster if it kept good things from happening. Those like me who sent her money did not either.
Adam L Silverman
@bluehill: I have made it very clear that he is a very good strategist. Every time I do, I have lots of people here tell me I’m wrong.
https://balloon-juice.com/2019/01/15/mitch-mcconnell-american-insurgent/
cain
It does seem like once again we’re in this situation where McConnell holds the rein. The man is admirably diabolical. When he dies, he will likely become a revenant and continue to run the Senate.
Adam L Silverman
@Benw: @mvr:
Adam L Silverman
@cain: Actually he’s a liche. Someone needs to find out where he keeps his soul bottle.
cain
Sure, but who cares. It’s not like Republicans are following any norms anyways. I mean just the fact that they are still holding the chairs prove that.
bluehill
@Adam L Silverman: You have. It seems like the last 10 years or so would have made it pretty obvious to Schumer and dem leadership and given them enough time to figure out how to respond. I hope they are pouring over the reconciliation rules and looking for loopholes and norms to break.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@bluehill: the norm they can break is the filibuster, Manchin and Sinema, just for starters, don’t want to.
there are no tricks to get around votes. McConnell was never a magician, he was a guy with a loyal and cohesive caucus. Dems don’t work that way.
PeakVT
The 60 vote “requirement” only exists in this case because the Senate fancies itself a continuing body and thus the rules from the previous session remain in force. There’s nothing in the Constitution that says that anything carries over from one Congress to another, or that there are any rules whatsoever in force at the start of a Congress other the ones specified in the Constitution itself.
The Senate needs to get over the world’s greatest debate club crap and adopt the House rules so it can get things done.
patrick II
Who will be the committee chairs during impeachment hearings?
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Exactly. And the filibuster, especially as McConnell has weaponized it, isn’t a norm. It’s an abuse of a rule that was never supposed to be part of the Senate. The founders didn’t want the Senate to function as a supermajoritarian institution, which is why the Constitution indicates it operates on a simple majority except for impeachment, treaty ratification (which was a stupid thing to create in general), and constitutional amendments. It was originally created by accident because Aaron Burr dropped language from an organizing resolution in the early 1800s because he didn’t think it was necessary. It was and its removal created the opportunity for Calhoun to create the filibuster in its original form. The resolution to that created the 60 vote threshold, rather than the 67 vote one, and that largely fixed the problem exact for when the southern Democrats used it during the Civil Rights era. Unfortunately, that fix provided McConnell with an effective tool that he’s used over and over and over again.
Adam L Silverman
@PeakVT: I know that. And you know that. McConnell in fact also knows that. But he’s got a set of rules that allows him to ignore that fact and manipulate the rules of the Senate to his advantage.
Adam L Silverman
@patrick II: If the organizational resolution has not passed, then it will still be Republicans. The one that will matter will be Lindsey Graham as he’ll still be the Judiciary Committee chair.
PeakVT
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m not sure how many D Senators know that. (I didn’t know it until several years ago, though I have the excuse of not being a Senator.)
Adam L Silverman
I’m racking out. Catch everyone on the flip.
patrick II
@Adam L Silverman:
That makes it clear to me why they are doing this. I’ll be surprised if they give it up before then.
prostratedragon
@Adam L Silverman: We owe Aaron Burr so much.
Balconesfault
Clearly the Senate can change rules on the filibuster incrementally … they did so with Judicial Nominees, they did so with Presidential Cabinet Appointments, they did so with the Supremes.
Each an individual step.
So why not just draft a rules mod that allows the filibuster to be dropped for Committee Chair decisions, while leaving it in place for legislation?
That would seem to give Sinema and Manchin the cover they need (none of their constituents give a crap about inside baseball committee chair crap).
lowtechcyclist
What I’m wondering is, why the Dems didn’t hold a cloture vote a week ago on the organizing resolution? ISTM that they should have struck while the iron was hot, made McConnell back up his words right then, or show that they were meaningless.
Might’ve also helped with Manchin: if McConnell can’t be trusted to keep his end of a deal, there’s really no route to the ‘bipartisanship’ he loves more than life itself.
As for now? What would happen if Schumer simply announced who the (Democratic) chairs of each committee were, and listed the names of the Democrats on each committee so that the Dems constituted a majority of each one. Basically do it by fiat, not even have a vote at all, so no filibuster.
When McConnell objects, Schumer should just say, ‘excuse the fuck out of me, bub, you’re in the minority. Feel free to explain to the press why you think you should still get to run things around here.’
Jesse
@Adam so what’s the next step (what are the next possible steps)? I doubt most senators are unaware of the situation; seems baffling to me that we haven’t seen more of this. If you’re expecting to be on a committee and that’s just not happening, you can see what’s going on.
rayb
On a recent podcast, Al Franken and Norm Ornstein discussed amending the filibuster rule so that the minority needs 41 (or possibly 45) votes to maintain the filibuster rather than requiring the majority to have 60 votes to defeat it. Then, the onus is on the minority to actually show up for the vote. Seems to me that this would reduce the number of frivolous filibusters.
Jesse
super dead thread, but it looks like the organizing resolution has been settled, and Democrats are in control. Thanks Adam for pointing out the inaccuracy/incompleteness/prematurity of the reporting that things were all done.