Lately, more Democrats have experienced a moment of clarity in terms of the political party they identify with, namely, that there are good Democrats and there are bad Democrats and that there's a spectrum in between. At this point, few Democrats will argue that there are any worse Senate Dems than Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. And that's true... but...
Neither Manchin nor Sinema is slated to face the voters in 2022, so neither of them will be handing control of the Senate-- at least not directly-- over to the McConnell and the GOP. That honor is most likely to go to another wretched conservative dog who doesn't bark as loudly as Sinema or Manchin: Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who is likely to lose her Senate seat, and deservedly so. Like Manchin and Sinema, Hassan sports an "F" grade from ProgressivePunch. She has the 7th worst voting record of any Democrat in the Senate (as long as you count Maine Independent Angus King as a Democrat; otherwise, her record is the 6th worst). She's the only one up for reelection-- and the blithering idiot voted against raising the minimum wage.
This morning the Washington Post's Michael Kranish, Mike DeBonis, Jacqueline Alemany looked at the Democrats' enemies within as the filibuster takes center stage. They set up their piece by reminding their readers that "Democrats say the mass shootings that are now a routine part of American life won’t end until stricter gun-control laws are enacted. They warn the warming planet is in peril without bold action. They say that unless voting rights are protected, democracy could fail and Republicans would be newly emboldened to try to reverse legitimate elections... In all these cases, Democrats say the future of the country is at stake. And yet even as Senate Democrats work to solidify support within their conference for these measures, they are running up against the same stubborn reality: They need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster and put their agenda into law. This requirement is not in the U.S. Constitution, nor is it in a law, nor set in stone through some Supreme Court precedent. Rather, it’s a rule imposed by senators-- and one that could at any moment be eliminated by a united rank of Democrats whose party controls the Senate as well as the entire federal government."
Manchin and Sinema deserve the blame for giving McConnell a veto over everything the Democrats hope to achieve-- but not just Manchin and Sinema. If the Democrats fail to achieve their ambitious agenda for the American people, they will lose their congressional majorities. The Democrats standing in the way of that are, basically, the Senate's Republican wing of the Democratic Party.
The trio reported that even an establishment moderate like Chris Van Hollen of Maryland stressed that the filibuster was not in the Constitution, calling it an anti-democratic tool used to "block the will of the majority of the American people. The framers of the Constitution built plenty of checks and balances into our system and they didn’t think we needed a filibuster-- it’s a complete invention of the U.S. Senate. The greater danger to our country right now is our inability to get big things done." The framers looked closely at the filibuster and explicitly decided to not include it in the Constitution.
The most explosive showdown is likely to occur during the last week of June, when the Senate is expected to consider a Democratic measure designed to protect voting rights at a time when some Republican officials have sought to overturn election results.
Without the passage of such a measure, some Democrats said they fear new laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures will make it harder for minority communities to vote and easier for Republicans to win elections for years to come. What to do about the bill was the subject of a tense conference-wide meeting Wednesday as anxiety within the party grows that the sweeping proposal has no chance of making it through the Senate.
But some Democratic senators, particularly those who won by narrow margins or are from states won by Trump, insist that bipartisanship is not dead. Indeed, skepticism about flatly eliminating the filibuster goes deeper in the Democratic ranks than the much-noted opposition of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-WV). Members such as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said they are dismayed at Republican obstruction, but also believe that the specter of gridlock has been exaggerated by those pushing for rules changes.
“We’re not even six months into this administration. We’ve already passed a major bipartisan bill on hate crimes. We’re about to pass another major bipartisan bill that will address research and innovation,” said Shaheen, referencing bills regarding attacks on Asian Americans and competition with China, while also saying she hopes for bipartisan support for an infrastructure plan. “I think it’s an important message for the American people to see that we’re going to work together in the best interests of the country.”
The result is a party impasse over how to handle the filibuster, which has alarmed activists and lawmakers who fear Democrats are fumbling a make-or-break moment with the midterms and the threat of losing control of Congress looming.
“I 100 percent believe that the fate of the Democrat Party in the foreseeable future is in the balance,” said Adam Jentleson, former senator Harry Reid’s deputy chief of staff and author of Kill Switch, in which he proposes that a bill should be able to pass with a simple majority vote, not 60 votes in the 100-member Senate, as can now happen due to the filibuster.
But Jentleson is among the activists who argue that senators defending the filibuster and the virtues of bipartisanship are expressing a naive nostalgia for a time when the country was less divided and lawmakers of goodwill were more likely to be rewarded by voters for working across the aisle.
He argued that Democrats would do better politically to pass an array of legislation that is widely popular with the public than hold out hope for bipartisan deals that Republicans are likely to reject.
Republicans, and even some Democrats, argue it’s not that easy and that advocates of getting rid of the filibuster don’t acknowledge another problematic reality for the party: Senate Democrats don’t currently have the 50 votes needed to pass major parts of the Biden agenda even if they scrap the 60-vote threshold. For instance, Manchin doesn’t support the voting rights bill as written and it’s unclear Democrats have enough votes to enact the gun restrictions and climate change policies favored by most of the party.
Filibuster foes got a big boost last year when former president Barack Obama said that a Republican effort to block voting rights legislation should be the tipping point for Democrats. If it “takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do,” Obama said when speaking at the funeral of civil rights icon and late congressman John Lewis.
...Yet Biden, who witnessed Obama’s frustration with the filibuster while serving as vice president, so far has supported keeping the measure. Biden’s “preference is not to get rid of the filibuster,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this year. “His preference is not to make different changes to the . . . filibuster rules.”
At issue is whether Democrats can convince all 50 members of their caucus to kill or reform the filibuster. Under a filibuster, 60 votes are needed to stop debate and pass a bill, in effect giving a minority party control over the majority’s agenda. There are exceptions, which enabled Republicans to push through federal court nominees without a filibuster, and Democrats to use a budget process to pass a coronavirus relief bill. And a measure to revoke the filibuster altogether cannot itself be filibustered.
Manchin is the most conservative Senate Democrat, an outlook that enabled him to win in a state where almost 70 percent of voters back Trump. To a lesser degree [not really... but what does The Post know?], Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), has been similarly outspoken on the need for bipartisanship.
A Democratic Senate aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said there is a misconception that Manchin and Sinema are mainly responsible for holding on to the filibuster. In reality, the aide said, there are at least 10 Democratic senators who disagree with key parts of the bills that Republicans are filibustering, but “they just don’t need to say anything crazy because Joe Manchin III is out there taking all the arrows for them.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has not endorsed any specific changes to the filibuster, but he has repeatedly said Democrats would not tolerate Republican obstruction and that “everything is on the table” to defeat the party’s agenda.
“Look, I think the events of the last few days probably made every member of our caucus realize that a lot of our Republican colleagues are not willing to work with us on a whole lot of issues, even issues where we try to be bipartisan,” he said Friday following the failed vote on the Jan. 6 commission.
...Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), said in an interview that a litany of issues is so important that-- if Republicans block them-- Democrats should eliminate the filibuster.
“If they block the January 6 commission, we will have to abolish the filibuster,” Markey said. “If the Republicans block climate action, we will have to abolish the filibuster. If Republicans block voting rights, we’ll have to abolish the filibuster. If Republicans block gun control legislation, we will have to abolish the filibuster. So I think that it’s just continuing to move towards the inevitability of the unavoidable necessity of repealing the filibuster.”
But Sen. Angus King (ME), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he would only vote to eliminate the filibuster as a “last resort.” He worried that if Democrats got rid of the filibuster, they may regret it if Republicans take over the Senate in the 2022 midterms.
“I know there are people that want to just say, ‘Let’s get rid of the filibuster.’ I don’t think they’re thinking ahead in terms of what the long-term implications could be for policies that they like. Every member is wrestling with this. There are all shades of opinion . . . I’m one of those in between.”
“It’s a dicey subject to come up,” he said.
Many Democrats hope Friday’s vote on the commission will spark a more animated conversation in the party ranks about the filibuster and finding ways around GOP obstruction. But others believe the real moment of truth will surround voting rights-- in particular, the For the People Act, a sprawling overhaul of federal elections, ethics and campaign finance law that would reverse many of the restrictions that have been pursued by Republican-controlled legislatures in the wake of the 2020 election.
But Manchin has yet to sign on the bill, preferring an alternative that would restore provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court struck down eight years ago. But even that bill is opposed by the vast majority of Republicans, and Manchin has flatly rejected the notion of killing the filibuster to pass it.
“This is a long game, it’s not a short game,” he said, explaining his opposition to changing the rule.
His colleagues say they are willing to play along, to a point.
“I just listen to what my colleagues tell me, and they tell me that they believe that the filibuster promotes bipartisan cooperation. Let’s give a few months to see if that’s the case,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who sees the commission vote as a step in that process. “If something this common sense can’t get 60 votes, that certainly would not be an advertisement for the filibuster promoting bipartisanship.”
This is what 2022 worthwhile Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate say. If they don't... they simply are not worthwhile. When we spoke this morning, after his tweet Larson, who is taking on Wisconsin Trumpist Ron Johnson, added 4 words: "It must be ended."
