Last Obstacle Standing
Senator Joe Manchin (D, WV) allegedly conservative, has mostly caved in on Biden’s agenda.
Progressives now demand killing or gutting Senate filibuster rules. And if the filibuster falls, a Progressive minority will rule the roost.
Pressure Mounts
Please note Kyrsten Sinema Defends Filibuster as Pressure Mounts From Progressives.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has emerged as the staunchest Democratic defender of the filibuster, brushing off fire from the outspoken progressive wing of her party as she tries to stake out a bipartisan reputation in a battleground state.
The Arizona lawmaker is one of just two Democratic senators who have publicly said they would block the party from eliminating the 60-vote requirement to advance most legislation, even as pressure builds from party activists eager to advance their agenda.
House Democrats have passed bills on voting rights, immigration and gun control, but all are expected to be blocked in the 50-50 Senate unless the rules are changed. Ms. Sinema said that is a problem with the senators, not the rules.
“The Senate has long been a graveyard for the priorities of the House,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.).
Current Rules
Under current rules it takes 60 Senators to pass a bill. There are exceptions under budget reconciliation bills but not for minimum wages, gun control, voting rights, affirmative action, etc.
Minimum Wages
Sinema is also not on board with a $15 minimum wage.
Progressives are also upset at her emphatic thumbs down of a House attempt to attach a minimum wage provision to the Covid legislation that recently passed.
She does support hiking the minimum wage to $12.15 an hour, which is the Arizona minimum.
Readers may recall that was my likely compromise target and it’s likely still in play. The Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25.
Activists Protest
“When you have a place that’s broken and not working, and many would say that’s the Senate today, I don’t think the solution is to erode the rules,” she said in an interview after two constituent events in Phoenix. “I think the solution is for senators to change their behavior and begin to work together, which is what the country wants us to do.”
A “Talking Filibuster”
Is Senator Joe Manchin bending on filibuster rules?
Politico comments in Anti-Filibuster Liberals Face a Senate Math Problem.
Achieving lockstep unity among a diverse 50-member caucus to change the rules for a tradition-bound institution is going to be a challenge, to say the least. Just look at Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who made waves on Sunday by expressing openness to enforcing a “talking filibuster” that requires senators to remain on the floor objecting to a bill, making it more painful for the minority to demand a 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation.
Manchin’s comments elated progressives and forced the White House to reiterate its “preference” to preserve the filibuster despite a growing number of Democratic bills stalling in the upper chamber. But the gregarious centrist clarified on Tuesday that he continues to support an effective 60-vote requirement for most legislation.
The talking filibuster essentially would require the minority party to hold the floor while objecting to a bill, with a supermajority of 60 votes required for the majority party to overrule it. The majority party could also wait for exhaustion to kick in and, whenever minority senators could no longer hold the floor, overpower the filibuster with a simple 51-vote majority. 46 Senate Democrats supported it in 2011, including Manchin, though many senators’ views have changed since then.
Manchin’s support for a 60-vote threshold to continue, then, would eliminate the central reform envisioned by a classic talking filibuster.
If you completely understand Manchin’s position, please tell me because I sure don’t know what it is.
US News reports Democrats Eye Filibuster Reform as Support for Elimination Lags
Progressives and a number of Democratic senators want to completely gut the filibuster, a stall tactic employed by the minority party that they see as the biggest hurdle to implementing Biden’s agenda.
Even as pressure builds to abolish it, there’s currently not enough support within the Democratic Party to go “nuclear.” While many haven’t abandoned those plans, Democrats are also eyeing various reforms, including a return to the “talking filibuster,” which requires the senator holding up a bill to remain physically present and speak on the Senate floor.
Still, the talking filibuster – depending on how it’d be structured – wouldn’t ultimately do much for the majority since the 60-vote threshold would still exist and block their agenda. But Democrats see it as a way to at least force senators to put their opposition on display, while others believe it could possibly limit the number of filibusters because of a time-consuming rule.
The lead political cartoon is from the above article.
Tax Hikes
Axios reports Moderate Democrats Buck Biden Tax Hikes.
Biden’s road to tax hikes may be steeper as Senator Joe Manchin is in play and so is the House.
Two moderate Democratic senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have drawn the most attention as potential obstacles to Biden’s agenda. But the president also faces headwinds in the House of Representatives, where Speaker Pelosi can lose just three Democratic votes if Republicans are unified in opposition.
Over the past week, Axios has been interviewing moderate Democratic House members. Several are skeptical about Biden’s tax-and-spend plans, and some were willing to say so on the record.
House Opposition
- Gottheimer, who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, said he won’t even consider Biden’s tax proposals unless the president agrees to reinstate the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction capped under former President Trump worth tens of billions every year. “Simply put,” Gottheimer said, “no SALT, no dice.”
- Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) also told Axios: “I’m not voting for any changes in the tax code unless we reinstate SALT as part of the deal.”
Curiously, those two House Democrats insist on tax cut for their states before they will vote for tax hikes on everyone.
This underscores the fragile nature of Biden’s attempting to ram through legislation.
Without a change to Filibuster rules, it may be a tough go for Biden. Heck, even a change to filibuster rules might not make for smooth sailing on everything.
Right now, Sinema is a huge road block on minimum wages, tax hikes, the Filibuster, climate change and other Progressive priorities.
Can that last?
Mish
Joe Biden (in the near future): “F**k it. We’re socialist now.”
As long as both branches of the War Party Of The Rich are composed of multi-millionaires and their lackeys – nothing will change.
Charles Barkley for President ……
Manchin doesn’t appear to have any conviction on the issue, but certainly is getting his name out there on the news channels. Perhaps he’s just angling for a raise for his wife at her new job?
Jeff Bezos says Amazon supports a corporate-tax hike, arguing that Biden’s infrastructure plan will require ‘concessions from all sides’
Sinema actually started as a Green Party activist just about a decade ago. But she made a series of “minor” compromises along the way and ended up going over to the dark side in a fairly short time.
Almost all of them change once they taste money and power
how is this not linked to u.s. support for a global minimum corporate tax. the i’s may not have been dotted yet, but there’s a connection
There won’t be a global minimum corporate tax. There will be a corporate AMT that doesn’t allow any corporation to escape paying no taxes. As I’ve said, it should be based on where the company does business and not their corporate headquarters. If you have an office in a country you typically are required to pay taxes. The tax filing location is of little consequence.
Everyone thought that Biden was a Senile “Moderate”, it turns out he’s a Senile Socialist more like Bernie than anything else.
You say he is senile while you don’t realize you are double posting. Sad!!
Boo hoo hoo… your mendacious moron lost.
Everyone thought that Biden was a Senile “Moderate”, it turns out he’s a Senile Socialist more like Bernie than anything else.
That cartoon got me pondering.
If we assume that there will aways be future generations, we can borrow from them infinitely far into the future, and never have to pay it back. If it turns out at some point there aren’t any more future generations, it doesn’t matter because there will be nobody left to pay back.
Maybe Dick Cheney was right…. deficits really don’t matter.
As t goes to infinity, there is always more time to borrow. I think the one thing that is not taken into account when talking about all this is trade. The US has enabled the world and world has allowed the US to run deficits to do it. The reason the dollar is stronger than other currencies despite the debt and deficits is it is the best currency in the neighborhood. Maybe aliens from another planet or solar system will come up with a better currency, but until then, trade and consumption are what make it all go. The drive to be export driven has brought middle class emerging markets out of poverty and into the global middle class since the 1990s. Does anyone really want to hold Russian rubles, Chinese yuan/renminbi or some other currency, where the government is effectively a dictatorship. We know what happens with those countries and currencies over the long haul. In the end, the world is better of embracing individual creativity, liberty and the productivity it brings. These countries intuitively know this but waste their time trying to ignore it and pretend it doesn’t matter.
Trump pushed for an end to the filibuster and McConnell refused to schedule Obama court nominees for confirmation.
It’s a game. Both sides play it. Republicans have a strategy. Block everything and then claim Democrats couldn’t get anything done.
As much as I have qualms about removing the filibuster rule it might be time. At the very least they need to make it harder to use. Perhaps require an actual speech
They should get rid of the filibuster but as a compromise end gerrymandering too. That will force representatives and senators to play ball.
Welcome to Whack-A-Mole governance in the 50/50 Senate … placate Sinema and it’s the next obstructionist Dem senator up with their own pet wish list.
Not that I agree with the ‘obstructionist’ label. Until I see otherwise, there isn’t much conviction behind the public displays, they are just chirping until they get fed.
Fair enough, their motive may not be obstruction, but it has a similar result.
I don’t understand her motivation. There is no more running “as a moderate appealing to both sides”. It is all out war everywhere.
Sadly this is probably true. The US seems on a path toward a civil war or at the very least massive civil unrest.
I think if we work towards promoting voting rights beyond the white rural population that can be easily avoided.
I wasn’t under the impression that the USA had a voting rights issue. But if it does, I’d certainly like to be able to vote (lived here 25 years as a working foreigner paying taxes but never been able to vote) so I hope any rights issue would expand to allowing me to vote.
Too bad you have not spent the time to inform yourself
A, the old, meaningless, ‘study it out’ response…. makes the responder sound pompous AND dumb.
“Restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other…that kept me going.” Hunter S. Thompson
Well the racist use of the filibuster of the past century says it probably should go https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/3/25/22348308/filibuster-racism-jim-crow-mitch-mcconnell
I hope they have eyes in the back of their heads.
Why? Are you hunting wabbits?
No, Hillary is.