I agree completely. However, it is not going to happen.
The problem isn’t so much Democrats as some Republicans. We all know where the Democrats stand on the various issues. We have a GOP majority in the senate, but a number of GOP senators oppose eliminating the fillibuster. I suspect they secretly share more in common with Democrats than conservatives, so the fillibuster is—in their minds—something that can both give them political cover in the GOP as well as prevent conservatives from having a say.
The 60 vote Senate rule is totally ridiculous and out of date. It is time for Mitchell to bite the bullet and get rid of it. They will never get tax reform unless they get rid of this archaic rule AKA: “The Byrd Rule” named after former West VA Senator Robert Byrd.
The filibuster worked well when most senators were working in good faith to get the best for their constituents. Compromise is a good thing in that situation to keep the minority from getting screwed.
But, when senators are working for their party rather than their constituents and the party is working for donors, the filibuster is not a good idea. It’s a tool the minority uses in bad faith negotiations in hopes of disappointing the majority of the voters to win the next election.
The days of the filibuster are numbered. Republicans can either end it now or they can wait for the democrats to end it when they take control of the senate again.
Not so sure this is a good idea.
I wonder if getting rid of the filibuster is along the lines of finishing off the Sinate, work that began with the 17thA.
No filibuster makes the Sinate just another House, and this would be the final straw.
The Sinate is indeed broken, but I think the proper fix is repeal of the 17th, to turn it back into a Senate. That means it will take awhile, and needs a Convention of States to accomplish.
I dunno. I don’t think you can trust the electorate to understand that 51 dem senators will get your 401K plan confiscated by the government just like they hijacked our healthcare.
I don’t think the problem is necessarily that republicans are spineless (although they probably are) and can’t find a way to completely rollback ACA. I think the problem was the electoral temper tantrum that “we, the people” had in 2008. we actually got lucky that the obamites were as incompetent as they were; the carnage could have been much worse.
generally, I think we keep blaming politicians for the electoral decisions we make.
Remember when Obamacare was rammed down our throats at 3 am on a Sunday morning, and because the Dims had a filibuster-proof majority there was nothing we could do about it?
Now imagine a not-so-distant future where the Dims can do the exact same thing on any subject, including gun control, with just a 50-50 tie in the Senate and a Dim Vice President tie-breaker.
No, this way lies folly, and people are being much too short-sighted to see it. Get rid if the filibuster altogether, and you may as well also get rid if the Senate entirely. It will become just another House.
Maybe replace them with Bellybusters those sound tasty.
I swear the Republican senators must be the type of parents who give their kids a candy bar when they were threaten to hold their breaths.
So why are Republicans rushing to pass a budget that Democrats love?
...
They don’t love it. They are spinning it to fool their constituents and create discontent among Trump’s supporters.
The Constitution calls for simple majority votes. That’s the best reason to get rid of the filibuster.
Getting rid of the super-majority rule may look good now that Republicans have both the Presidency and Congress, but will it look so good a few years down the road when (inevitably) we go through another back and forth political cycle and get stuck with a slim majority of Democrats? The question people need to ask is whether they really want to give their party powers that the opposing party will get to use in a few years' time.
Bingo!
It all comes down to the fact that the Democrats aren't afraid to filibuster while the Republicans are. So either way, we lose and the Democrats ALWAYS get what they want.
What are the Republicans afraid of? The media of course. Like three-year-olds and monsters in their bedroom, they are afraid of their own shadows.
This all has to stop or else Trump will not MAGA.
Trump has signaled that he knows this. And Trump has put off tackling the problem now. So is he planning on playing hardball with the RINOs for a September showdown?
We shall see.
1. The filibuster was supposed to be hard to pull off—with someone talking nonstop for hours. not just- “I declare a filibuster”
2. The filibuster was supposed to be used by fairly honorable people, who would use it sparingly, not for a minority to block a majority on everything.
Get rid of it. You KNOW the dems would if they were in the same situation
This is all a GOPe lie.
There is no filibuster allowed on a bill that has gone through The reconciliation process.
The house votes on a bill the senate votes on a bill that is completely different.
It goes to the conference committee where they hash out the differences and come up with a completely new bill made up of the ideas from both houses of congress.
Then they send that bill to the house And senate where it gets a straight up or down vote. The senate is not allowed to filibuster of reconciled bill. So there’s no excuse why they couldn’t pass a real budget other than they don’t want to.
Why are Republicans rushing to pass a budget that Democrats love?.
Well, sheesh, it's as obvious as the nose on your face. The Republicans love the budget too. Why does anyone think they wouldn't? Does anyone think that any significant number of them have some sort of altruistic view of serving the public good? The only serving any of them are interested in is a bigger serving.
Why not just get rid of the Senate?
Ending the legislative filibuster would force Republicans to either deliver legislation in accordance with the principles that they claim to have or acknowledge that they don’t actually have those principles.