The Filibuster in the US Senate. - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15163456
The filibuster in the US Senate is generally considered to be a tool of the party in the minority. Its use is to frustrate the will of the majority party.

If this is true, I admit to being confused.

The US Senate is presently evenly divided, with the Vice-President of the US, a Democrat, acting as the tie-breaker. The filibuster, then, benefits the Republican Party. The Democratic Party is proposing to change and weaken it.

However, we're but 1 3/4 years from the 2022 elections. The history of these off-year elections has been that the party in power loses seats in both the House and the Senate. This would make the Republicans the majority in the Senate and the filibuster would work to the advantage of the Democrats.

On top of that, there's a good possibility of the Republicans taking the White House in 2024 and, if so, maintaining control of the Senate. Again, the filibuster would benefit the Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Addison McConnell, Republican, opposes any change to the filibuster.

Is he not thinking far enough ahead or, alternately, is he considering passing a similar bill immediately after the 2022 election? Senator McConnell is too skilled a politician to be acting in a knee-jerk fashion to the Democrat proposal.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.
#15164400
Torus34 wrote:The filibuster in the US Senate is generally considered to be a tool of the party in the minority. Its use is to frustrate the will of the majority party.

If this is true, I admit to being confused.

The US Senate is presently evenly divided, with the Vice-President of the US, a Democrat, acting as the tie-breaker. The filibuster, then, benefits the Republican Party. The Democratic Party is proposing to change and weaken it.

However, we're but 1 3/4 years from the 2022 elections. The history of these off-year elections has been that the party in power loses seats in both the House and the Senate. This would make the Republicans the majority in the Senate and the filibuster would work to the advantage of the Democrats.

On top of that, there's a good possibility of the Republicans taking the White House in 2024 and, if so, maintaining control of the Senate. Again, the filibuster would benefit the Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Addison McConnell, Republican, opposes any change to the filibuster.

Is he not thinking far enough ahead or, alternately, is he considering passing a similar bill immediately after the 2022 election? Senator McConnell is too skilled a politician to be acting in a knee-jerk fashion to the Democrat proposal.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

McConnell has said that he will use scorched earth tactics if the Dems strike down or weaken the filibster.
This doesn't sound like a man who is as confident as you in Repud proospects in 2022 and 2024. I sounds like a man making hollow threats to stop his opponents from doing something good for them.

I for 1 am not afraid of McConnell useing scorched earth tactics in 2021 and 2022 and/or passing all the laws he proposed to pass when the Repuds regain power in 2023 or 2025. Why? Because all of them are opposed by a big majority (60% - 75%) of the voters and always by at least 45% of Repub voters. Lately, the voters have punished Pelosi on 11/3 for blocking stimulus checkks before the election and then McConnell on 1/5 for cutting the checks from $2K to $600. The voters seem to be in a ounishing mood. So, I predict that if the Repuds functionally outlawed abortion, etc., that the voters would punish the Repuds again in a BIG way.

I also wonder if the Dems will do very good in 2022 IF they end the filibuster to pass the voter rights law and other popular laws. Passng popular laws should mean more votes for the Dems. That prediction is also partly, because Biden's coattails were very shot in 2020. This resulted in several maybe Dem House seats going to the Repuds. Therefore, there are fewer "maybe Dem sets" to lose in 2022, *and* more "maybe Dem seats" to recover in 2022.

Time will tell.

OTOH, if the Dems don't pass the voting rights law, they may as well bend over and kiss their butt goodby.
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