The Senate is supposed to be the deliberative wing of Congress. Bills pass through the House on a simple majority but when they get to the Senate, by design, they are handled quite differently. First of all, there is not a windstorm of Bills being discussed simultaneously as in the House. In the Senate, there is debate, there is intense consideration and then under the majority of circumstances, a Bill must have the support of a Super Majority of 60 Senators to be moved out of debate (cloture) and to a floor vote where it must pass by a simple majority before moving along to the President for his signature. A threat to vote against cloture is now referred to as the Filibuster and is often confused with the image of actor Jimmy Stewart standing for hours controlling the Senate floor – the so-called ‘talking filibuster’ – so that no action could be taken. Joe Biden and other Democrats said over the last week that they wish to return to the ‘Speaking Filibuster’.
The Senate has always been the body to ensure that extreme or partisan bills could not slide through. It was designed to slow things down so that level heads could discuss, negotiate and move bills toward passage only once a consensus of 60 Senators could be reached. As recently as 2018, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, and Amy Klobuchar claimed elimination of the Senate Filibuster would be the end of the Senate and catastrophic to the country.
How times have changed.
Now, the Democrats have the White House, a slim majority in the House, and the Tie-Breaker Vote in the Senate. These three flip-flopping Senators have done a 180 and think the Filibuster needs to go. That it is an impediment to our Republic. Talk about whiplash on the spin move.
The COVID Relief Bill was passed without a single Republican vote in either chamber. The Dems are looking at spending another $3-4 Trillion on an infrastructure plan, pass legislation to circumvent or destroy the Second Amendment, revamp Immigration Laws and push through a Green Deal…..all would be so much easier without the Filibuster creating a speedbump in their way to recreating America in their image. We have to not just tap the brakes we have to put the peddle to the floor. We only have one tool in our box until we can win back one of the chambers and that is the filibuster. Don’t let them take that away as that would mean game over.
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