Bipartisan Effort to Preserve 60 Vote Threshold for Legislation
Please consider the April 7, 2017 article by Senator Sue Collins: Senators Collins, Coons Lead Effort to Preserve 60 Vote Threshold for Legislation.
U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Chris Coons (D-DE) led a bipartisan group of 61 Senators in writing to Senate leadership, urging them to preserve the 60 vote threshold for legislation.
“This letter demonstrates that a majority of the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, can come together to protect an important tradition of the Senate that recognizes the rights of the minority and makes bipartisan legislation more likely,” said Senator Collins. “After the contentious and polarized debate of the past few weeks, I am hopeful that this letter indicates a new determination by a bipartisan group of more than 60 Senators to move forward to solve the pressing problems facing our nation.”
“Democrats want the Senate to work, and we are willing to partner with our colleagues across the aisle if we can get things done for the American people,” said Senator Coons. “We have a long way to go to heal the wounds between our two parties, but this letter is a small first step towards that important goal.”
Democrat and Independent Signees
Chris Coons (D-DE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Angus King (I-ME), Mark Warner (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bob Casey (D-PA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Jon Tester (D-MT), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Kamala Harris (D-CA),Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
Angus King caucuses with the Democrats so that makes 32 Democrat senators signing a letter to keep the filibuster.
Republican Signees
Susan Collins (R-ME), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John McCain (R-AZ), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Luther Strange (R-AL), Richard Burr (R-NC), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Boozman (R-AR), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Thune (R-SD), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Dean Heller (R-NV), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Rob Portman (R-OH), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John Kennedy (R-LA), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Todd Young (R-IN), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike Lee (R-UT).
Donald Trump was president, yet 29 Republican senators signed that Letter Supporting the Filibuster.
Hypocrite List
Chris Coons (D-DE), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Angus King (I-ME), Bob Casey (D-PA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
Those 26 Democrat hypocrites signed a letter to keep the Filibuster when Trump was president and now seek to trash it.
What Changed?
What changed is obvious. Democrats now believe 50 votes is enough to do whatever the hell they want.
Fortunately, they only have 48 votes because Democrats Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Krysten Sinema (AZ) put integrity ahead of politics.
The pair is also able to think ahead and look behind.
What If?
Q: What if it only took 50 senators in the first two years of a Trump presidency?
A: We might have national Right to Work legislation; collective bargaining for public workers might be out the window; bankruptcy reform is certainly needed and we might have it, and prevailing wage laws would be scrapped.
I support all of those things and would love to have them. And that’s just for starters.
But everything would reverse when Democrats had the White House and Congress (like now).
50 would be enough. There would be no bipartisan legislation to speak of.
Scorched Earth
Mitch McConnell explicitly warned about this on March 16, 2021 vowing ‘Scorched Earth’ If Senate Ends Filibuster.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell warned ominously Tuesday of a “scorched earth” landscape if Democrats use their new majority to bring an end to the Senate filibuster in hopes of muscling legislation supporting President Joe Biden’s agenda past GOP opposition.
“Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues: Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin — can even begin to imagine — what a completely scorched earth Senate would look like,” McConnell said in a Senate speech.
McConnell said the partisan gridlock of the Trump and Obama eras would look like “child’s play” compared to what’s to come.
Mob Rule, Not Gridlock
Many blasted McConnell for those comments but they apply to both parties.
McConnell is mistaken on one key point however. It would not be “partisan gridlock”.
It would be more like Chicago gangs duking it out, each reversing the other’s gains when they had more members.
Judicial Appointments
By the way, it was Democrats who changed the rules on Judicial appointments from 60 to 50 Senators so Obama could get his court picks approved.
Guess who complained when Trump made appointments.
Obama vs Obama
Senator Obama wanted to preserve the filibuster (under a Republican president, of course), then applauded its removal to get his appointments approved.
Democrats then bitterly complained about not being able to stop Trump appointments.
McConnell also shifted his stance.
What a hoot!
Sinema Censured
The Washington Post reports Arizona Democratic Party Votes to Censure Sinema, citing filibuster vote.
State party chair Raquel Terán said Saturday’s censure vote, which was taken behind closed doors, was a direct consequence of Sinema’s unwillingness to endorse Senate rule changes to pass voting rights legislation. The senator’s move, she said, crossed a red line at a time when voting rights are under attack.
Sinema had said on Wednesday that although she backed the Democrats’ voting rights bills, she feared that eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote requirement for major legislation would add to the country’s divisions. With Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) joining Republicans in opposition to filibuster changes, Democrats’ immediate hopes of passing voting rights legislation were dashed.
Progressive Happy With Mob Rule
The Progressives are happy with the “scorched earth, mob rule” prospect because they are not at all interested in bipartisanship, ever.
They are hell bent on destroying the country with extreme socialist idiocy that has failed everywhere it’s been tried.
Progressives saw this as their big chance. They blame Senators Manchin and Sinema for placing integrity over extreme party politics.
That is the sorry state of affairs.
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taken behind closed doors, was a direct consequence of Sinema’s
unwillingness to endorse Senate rule changes to pass voting rights
legislation.”