Cocaine Mitch, don't eliminate it, restore it!
No end in sight. Chuckie says that the President is willing to keep the government shut down for weeks, months, or even years. The President said he was willing to take credit. A bill was passed, and he pulled the rug at the last minute, such that McConnell wouldn't even send it to the President for a veto. He needs to really lay out what he wants, and his expectations, before Congress does their "thief in the night" imitation and leaves DC on the last flights out. He does carry SOME blame.
Maybe it is Speaker Ryan's fault? Yes, to an extent. The president gave them time to give him money for a wall, and he said then that that was the last time. The Speaker, busy planning his retirement, did the business people's bidding by not bringing it up. I would attribute the GOP loss of the House directly to the failure to fund the wall, or fence, or barrier. But that is only one part.
Ryan doesn't own that part anymore. Now it is Pelosi. She wants to ram through spending bills (except money for the wall, or a full year of Homeland Security, the ONE thing the federal government is supposed to do), but they aren't going anywhere. For now, McConnell is not likely to bring them up to a vote. So, is it McConnell's fault?
It would be easy to think so. He could have considered the bill the House passed, and ran it through on a loose interpretation of Reconcilliation, or.... he could have eliminated the filibuster entirely. He did neither. Nor did he send the bill passed by both houses with no money for the wall to the President. Too bad. That gives ammunition to the Democrats regarding who is to blame. So are we done? This would be a very short post if we were. We aren't.
While we could pass all sorts of blame around, where I cast it is on Senator Mike Mansfield (D-MT). Don't remember him? Well, it was a long time ago. In 1970 he revolutionized the filibuster in the Senate, taking away the rationale to use it very, very sparingly. What did he do? He changed Senate rules so that if a bill is filibustered, by the minority leader agreeing, they could set that bill aside and move on to something else. If you remember the movie "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" we would see Jimmy Stewart standing in the well of the Senate speaking on anything and everything to hold up legislation. The filibuster went on until the Senator yielded the floor, or until a cloture vote was passed. This new rule allowed for the "faux filibuster" where they just say that they are going to do it, and then move on. Too bad. The number of filibusters took off in 1970, and in the early 2000s, they were, for the first time, applied to various presidential nominees. The nominee cycle was broken by Senator Reid (D-NV) in 2013, followed by the complete end of it for nominees in 2017 by McConnell. Want to see the movie clip?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6UbYHCkoZs
In the past, I have argued for the filibuster. But not for what it has become, that rule is the nail in the coffin of what the Senate used to be. For what it was, I support it. It was used rarely, because of what was involved. Now, the minority just says filibuster, and they have squelched the will of the majority.
The party invoking the filibuster doesn't matter, both have done it. It needs to go, or be restored. Of course, at anytime, since the rule is a Senate rule, the Majority leader could, by vote, reverse the rule. Forcing them to stand for hours, holding up everything else. It would have to be a rare cause to completely stop the business of the Senate. Now, since business doesn't stop, it doesn't matter. Time to go.
With the "faux filibuster" in the rear view mirror, perhaps we could find who is truly to blame in this situation. As a reminder, the President can take no action without a bill. Just sayin'.
Don't believe me? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
Maybe it is Speaker Ryan's fault? Yes, to an extent. The president gave them time to give him money for a wall, and he said then that that was the last time. The Speaker, busy planning his retirement, did the business people's bidding by not bringing it up. I would attribute the GOP loss of the House directly to the failure to fund the wall, or fence, or barrier. But that is only one part.
Ryan doesn't own that part anymore. Now it is Pelosi. She wants to ram through spending bills (except money for the wall, or a full year of Homeland Security, the ONE thing the federal government is supposed to do), but they aren't going anywhere. For now, McConnell is not likely to bring them up to a vote. So, is it McConnell's fault?
It would be easy to think so. He could have considered the bill the House passed, and ran it through on a loose interpretation of Reconcilliation, or.... he could have eliminated the filibuster entirely. He did neither. Nor did he send the bill passed by both houses with no money for the wall to the President. Too bad. That gives ammunition to the Democrats regarding who is to blame. So are we done? This would be a very short post if we were. We aren't.
While we could pass all sorts of blame around, where I cast it is on Senator Mike Mansfield (D-MT). Don't remember him? Well, it was a long time ago. In 1970 he revolutionized the filibuster in the Senate, taking away the rationale to use it very, very sparingly. What did he do? He changed Senate rules so that if a bill is filibustered, by the minority leader agreeing, they could set that bill aside and move on to something else. If you remember the movie "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" we would see Jimmy Stewart standing in the well of the Senate speaking on anything and everything to hold up legislation. The filibuster went on until the Senator yielded the floor, or until a cloture vote was passed. This new rule allowed for the "faux filibuster" where they just say that they are going to do it, and then move on. Too bad. The number of filibusters took off in 1970, and in the early 2000s, they were, for the first time, applied to various presidential nominees. The nominee cycle was broken by Senator Reid (D-NV) in 2013, followed by the complete end of it for nominees in 2017 by McConnell. Want to see the movie clip?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6UbYHCkoZs
In the past, I have argued for the filibuster. But not for what it has become, that rule is the nail in the coffin of what the Senate used to be. For what it was, I support it. It was used rarely, because of what was involved. Now, the minority just says filibuster, and they have squelched the will of the majority.
The party invoking the filibuster doesn't matter, both have done it. It needs to go, or be restored. Of course, at anytime, since the rule is a Senate rule, the Majority leader could, by vote, reverse the rule. Forcing them to stand for hours, holding up everything else. It would have to be a rare cause to completely stop the business of the Senate. Now, since business doesn't stop, it doesn't matter. Time to go.
With the "faux filibuster" in the rear view mirror, perhaps we could find who is truly to blame in this situation. As a reminder, the President can take no action without a bill. Just sayin'.
Don't believe me? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
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