this post was submitted on 01 May 2024
66 points (88.4% liked)
United States | News & Politics
7186 readers
742 users here now
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The point of the filibuster is that you don't want the majority to trample the rights of the minority. Imagine what happens when the Senate has a simple majority of Republicans again. And it's pretty likely, since Manchin is retiring (WV is very, very solidly red; there's functionally zero chance that Dems will keep that seat), and both Ossof and Warnock will have a serious uphill fight to retain their seats in the coming years; the only reason Warnock won the last time is because Republicans were convinced the election was rigged, and didn't show up. (So, I guess that's one thing Trump did right...?)
Republicans took the House, barely, in '22. If Trump wins this year, then the odds are pretty good that Republicans will retain the House and take the Senate. A filibuster is a check on that, unless the senate majority throws it out, and so far Republicans haven't been willing to completely gut it. So far. If Dems choose to do that--and they don't have the votes to do so--they'd be shooting themselves in the foot for when they lose the Senate again. If anything, Dems should be strengthening the filibuster, albeit going back to the old rules where you actually had to stand up and talk the whole time.
The Dems have never used the filibuster to block Republican legislative initiatives. It's only been used to stop things like the Civil Rights act, and ensure that massive government handouts are given to well-connected contractors.
You need to intenalize the purpose of the filibuster, it's not to stop "the majority to trample the rights of the minority," or whatever idealic thing you've fixated on.
Here is something to chew on:
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/05/politics/filibuster-senate-explained/
That is an absolutely, 100% false claim. (And, if you want to check the source, Repustar is the single largest contributor, and they have a very high reputation for being factual.) Both Democratic and Republican minorities have made quite liberal use of the filibuster to block legislation that they couldn't directly vote down.
There are literally no sources there. Give me the senate records that show the dems did it. There should be bills that came up for the passing and the outcome of those bills. I see nothing there. That websites source is "trust me bro." Also you then cite mediabias fact check to fact check the source that of the filibuster claim.
Bills don't come up for a vote if they're filibustered. They leave committee, and then there's debate. You need 60 votes--cloture--to end debate and bring a bill up for a floor vote. If either party leader has indicated that their party intend to filibuster a bill, then the bill never even comes up, because you're not going to be able to end debate and take it up for a vote. If you want to see what was filibustered over the years, your best bet is going to be looking at what got referred out of committee, and then never got voted on in the first place.
If you want to do that kind of legwork, be my guest.
Are you saying that mediabiasfactcheck is unreliable? That's a bold move there.