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  1. #1
    Over 9000! Milchshake's Avatar
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    Democrats Rebuff McConnell’s Filibuster Demands

    “CHUCK SCHUMER IS THE MAJORITY LEADER AND HE SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE MAJORITY LEADER”



    Bad news for Filibuster onlyfans. — no surprise with every Democratic senator having a veto — but as good a news as can be expected right now:

    Senate Democrats are signaling they will reject an effort by Mitch McConnell to protect the legislative filibuster as part of a deal to run a 50-50 Senate, saying they have little interest in bowing to his demands just hours into their new Senate majority.

    McConnell has publicly and privately pressed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to work to keep the 60-vote threshold on most legislation as part of their power-sharing agreement. Democrats have no plans to gut the filibuster further, but argue it would be a mistake to take one of their tools off the table just as they’re about to govern.

    Many Democrats argue that having the threat of targeting the filibuster will be key to forcing compromise with reluctant Republicans. They also believe it would show weakness to accede to McConnell’s demand as he’s relegated to minority leader.

    “Chuck Schumer is the majority leader and he should be treated like majority leader. We can get shit done around here and we ought to be focused on getting stuff done,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “If we don’t, the inmates are going to be running this ship.”

    “It would be exactly the wrong way to begin,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “We need to have the kind of position of strength that will enable us to get stuff done.”

    Four years ago, as McConnell himself came under pressure from former President Donald Trump to gut the filibuster, 61 senators signed a letter to Senate leaders emphasizing the importance of protecting the supermajority requirement. And even now Democrats like Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia say they want to keep the filibuster, emphasizing that it drives compromise.


    The best hope for getting rid of the filibuster is for McConnell and his conference to act in such bad faith obstructionism that Manchin, Sinema and any other holdouts can be compelled with the Greatest Reluctance to vote to blow it up (as senators like Leahy were when McConnell blockaded the D.C. Circuit in 2013.) And until then the threat of doing so, which Republicans are clearly worried about, needs to be used as leverage.

    Susan Collins says the quiet part loud:“You want to do it before there’s an emotional, difficult, controversial issue. So that it isn’t issue-driven, it’s institution-driven,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who organized the 2017 letter from rank-and-file senators to Schumer and McConnell.
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  2. #2
    If Republicans wanted fairness, they should have tried practicing democracy for the last four years. Instead, McConnell chose to be the gravedigger of democracy. Fuck 'em.

  3. #3
    Tell McConnell to eat shit.

  4. #4
    Void Lord Elegiac's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nelinrah View Post
    Tell McConnell to eat shit.
    I second this course of action. Turtle soup.
    Quote Originally Posted by Marjane Satrapi
    The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk and understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.

  5. #5
    Here's the sad fact Chuck Schummer is a weak pathetic leader and McConnell is going to run laps around him in the senate. The democrats needed new leadership but this feckless prick keeps his position, he is already trying to adhere to norms for the senate comes to order. If democrats want to get anything done they should think "what would Moscow Mitch do?" because republicans don't give a flying fuck about norms or rules they get what they want.

  6. #6
    Void Lord Felya's Avatar
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    McConnell is also asking to delay impeachment until February... ain't he cute... thinking he has a say... adorable...
    Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
    Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
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  7. #7
    McConnell wanted power at the halfway mark...what a dick.

  8. #8
    The Undying
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grapemask View Post
    If Republicans wanted fairness, they should have tried practicing democracy for the last four years. Instead, McConnell chose to be the gravedigger of democracy. Fuck 'em.
    And even before that - remember McConnell's goal of preventing any Obama initiated legislation from passing?

  9. #9
    Is a filibuster even a filibuster where they have to hold the floor and run their mouth to hold things up, or do they just “call” filibuster now and everything stops? I’d be ok with forcing people to filibuster. If you really want to stop things, stand up and yap for hours on end. I’m pretty sure Stromn Thurmond still holds the record for that.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by cubby View Post
    And even before that - remember McConnell's goal of preventing any Obama initiated legislation from passing?
    The problem with copying his approach is that while he seized power for his party, he was a complete failure when it came to governing a country. The GOP got very little done at all, and ended up constantly fighting to do even basic tasks that had not been issues before. If the Dems copy that, it may gain them personal power, but the country kinda needs better than 4 more years of political games in lieu of doing their jobs.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by SavoirFaire View Post
    Is a filibuster even a filibuster where they have to hold the floor and run their mouth to hold things up, or do they just “call” filibuster now and everything stops?
    More the latter, because nobody wants to waste time playing chicken to see if it will actually happen.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Lynarii View Post
    The problem with copying his approach is that while he seized power for his party, he was a complete failure when it came to governing a country. The GOP got very little done at all, and ended up constantly fighting to do even basic tasks that had not been issues before. If the Dems copy that, it may gain them personal power, but the country kinda needs better than 4 more years of political games in lieu of doing their jobs.
    Well, the chief difference is that Republicans didn't actually want anything. They achieved most of it already. Corporations are scarcely regulated, taxes for the wealthy are low - they literally just had to sit there and hold down the seat and keep raking in money. Democrats have an agenda, even if different wings have different ideas of what it may be - the problem won't be that they don't even bother to vote on a bill, it will be that they can't agree on many bills, which isn't really affected by copying the GOP playbook.

  13. #13
    Scarab Lord Zaydin's Avatar
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    Honestly, Schumer should tell Moscow Mitch that if McConnell wants to keep the filibuster, it needs to be reverted to being a proper filibuster. That is, Republicans filibustering a bill have to stand on the floor of the Senate and keep talking until they collapse in order to maintain the filibuster. None of the crap they pulled during the Obama years.
    "If you are ever asking yourself 'Is Trump lying or is he stupid?', the answer is most likely C: All of the Above" - Seth Meyers

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Zaydin View Post
    Honestly, Schumer should tell Moscow Mitch that if McConnell wants to keep the filibuster, it needs to be reverted to being a proper filibuster. That is, Republicans filibustering a bill have to stand on the floor of the Senate and keep talking until they collapse in order to maintain the filibuster. None of the crap they pulled during the Obama years.
    I'm here for this. Either it goes, or you actually have to stand the fuck up and talk nonstop. At least in the Senate, the House has some ways to at least get a temporary break.

    Which I originally learned from West Wing, because who says you never learn anything from melting your brain watching TV?

  15. #15
    I wrote this to my Senators for at least next two years.

    First likely a cold day in Hell will the Democrats ever get a 'safe" 60 filibuster proof majority or Republicans helping. Second don't trust the snake Republicans on anything. Must pass bills.
    Democrats are the best! I will never ever question a Democrat again. I LOVE the Democrats!

  16. #16
    Merely a Setback PACOX's Avatar
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    Schumer allowed McConnell to negotiate for 'equal' privileges, as if McConnell would do the same or if McConnell suddenly became an honorable person.


    I'm just surprised McConnell is testing the waters so soon.

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  17. #17
    The Undying
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    Quote Originally Posted by PACOX View Post
    Schumer allowed McConnell to negotiate for 'equal' privileges, as if McConnell would do the same or if McConnell suddenly became an honorable person.


    I'm just surprised McConnell is testing the waters so soon.
    Just ridiculous this is happening, but entirely unsurprising that McConnell is pushing this hard this soon.

  18. #18
    Herald of the Titans TigTone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cubby View Post
    Just ridiculous this is happening, but entirely unsurprising that McConnell is pushing this hard this soon.
    From what I have seen from the turtle, it seems he only cares about wielding power over others. It doesn’t matter if his policy pass or not; as long as he holds power and has the last word.

    A person like that should be forever banned from government.

  19. #19
    This feels like nothing but posturing from both sides. The Democrats don't have the votes to end the filibuster. The Republicans don't have a majority in the chamber. Talk is talk.

  20. #20
    Pandaren Monk wunksta's Avatar
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    For some perspective

    From 1917, when the cloture rule was put in place, to 1970, there were fewer than 60 cloture motions; the most notable filibusters where those blocking civil rights legislation. Between 1970 and 2000, cloture votes increased to an average of about 17 per year. Finally, starting in the 2000s, minority parties in the Senate began to routinely filibuster substantive legislation proposed by the other party. During this period, from 2000 to 2018, an average of 53 cloture votes were held every year, with a continuing trend upward. Cloture votes reached a high of 218 for the two-year period under the 113th Congress (2013–2014). In the most recent full session, the 115th Congress (2017–2018), there were 168 cloture votes. This was a Congress that the conservative R Street Institute described as “more dysfunctional than ever”—only 52 pieces of legislation were passed in the Senate by a recorded vote.
    https://www.americanprogress.org/iss...-policymaking/

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