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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(107,063 posts)
Thu Apr 6, 2017, 09:01 PM Apr 2017

Nuking The Filibuster May Hurt Republicans In The Long Run

The Supreme Court filibuster just died. Having failed to break a Democratic filibuster on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Republicans voted 52-48 to invoke the so-called nuclear option, allowing debate on Gorsuch and future Supreme Court justices to be ended by the Senate on a simple majority vote.

Unless there’s an intense public outcry — and there was barely a peep when Democrats invoked the nuclear option for other nominations four years ago — the legislative filibuster might be next on the chopping block. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he’ll keep the legislative filibuster for the current Congress. But with the intense partisanship that typifies Congress these days, the reverence for Senate traditions such as the filibuster isn’t likely to hold much longer.

In the short run, this will give Republicans and their narrow majority in the Senate more power. Gorsuch is expected to be confirmed on a mostly1 party-line vote on Friday. President Trump may get the chance to nominate additional Supreme Court justices later in his term. And if Republicans decide to eliminate the legislative filibuster somewhere down the line, they’ll have more flexibility on repealing and replacing Obamacare,2 tax reform and other policies.

But in the long run, it’s not at all clear that eroding the filibuster will be in the GOP’s best interest. In the recent past, they’ve made more effective and more frequent use of it than Democrats ever did. Consider some of the additional legislation that might have passed had the filibuster not been in place during President Barack Obama’s time in office. The list includes the DREAM Act, a cap-and-trade system to regulate carbon emissions, a gun-control compromise bill and a “public option” as part of Obamacare. Democrats would probably also have been able to pass an even more aggressive stimulus package if not for the de facto 60-vote requirement.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nuking-the-filibuster-may-hurt-republicans-in-the-long-run/

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Nuking The Filibuster May Hurt Republicans In The Long Run (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Apr 2017 OP
Get rid of it. The GOP's days are numbered. dalton99a Apr 2017 #1
Your exactly right, and that is why 2018 and 2020 are critical still_one Apr 2017 #2
They basically voted for a simple majority to insure their own political execution. Guilded Lilly Apr 2017 #3
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