Ahead of an expected vote on Republicans' budget reconciliation package,
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee revived his effort to sell off public lands.
I agree that the process of shoehorning everything into one big bill is crazy, but it wouldn’t be as big of an issue without the filibuster. Then it would be possible to pass non-budget bills with a simple majority (50 votes) instead of needing a supermajority (60 votes) for everything.
And the filibuster wouldn’t be as big of a deal if they were required to actually filibuster. For a while now, they’ve only needed to send an email stating that they were filibustering. This would also probably force some senators who have no business making laws that they won’t be alive to see the consequences of to retire. For example, there’s no way that McConnell has been physically capable of a filibuster for the last decade at least - he should be enjoying retirement (as much as one can wish him well), not enjoying causing harm to current and future generations.
Absolutely. I want to keep the filibuster, but I want them to have to stand and talk the whole time. Cloture could still stop it. It would show who is really committed to a cause and who is just doing whatever is politically expedient.
Indeed! Would be necessary to ensure that it walks a line that is not ableist, while still preventing obstructionists from having undemocratic power to kill legislation with a “nuh-uh”.
That’s a very good point that I hadn’t considered. I’m not sure what to do to provide necessary modifications fairly without favoring folks who are 9000 years old due to being cursed by a witch, but I’m sure someone out there has a good idea.
I agree that the process of shoehorning everything into one big bill is crazy, but it wouldn’t be as big of an issue without the filibuster. Then it would be possible to pass non-budget bills with a simple majority (50 votes) instead of needing a supermajority (60 votes) for everything.
And the filibuster wouldn’t be as big of a deal if they were required to actually filibuster. For a while now, they’ve only needed to send an email stating that they were filibustering. This would also probably force some senators who have no business making laws that they won’t be alive to see the consequences of to retire. For example, there’s no way that McConnell has been physically capable of a filibuster for the last decade at least - he should be enjoying retirement (as much as one can wish him well), not enjoying causing harm to current and future generations.
Absolutely. I want to keep the filibuster, but I want them to have to stand and talk the whole time. Cloture could still stop it. It would show who is really committed to a cause and who is just doing whatever is politically expedient.
Indeed! Would be necessary to ensure that it walks a line that is not ableist, while still preventing obstructionists from having undemocratic power to kill legislation with a “nuh-uh”.
That’s a very good point that I hadn’t considered. I’m not sure what to do to provide necessary modifications fairly without favoring folks who are 9000 years old due to being cursed by a witch, but I’m sure someone out there has a good idea.