Tag: Senate filibuster

More Senate Filibuster Silliness

 

Lefty Law Professors Want VP Harris to Declare the Filibuster “Unconstitutional”

Give the Left its due. They are relentless. Not just progressive election “reformers,” or “critical theory” proponents. But law professors and legislative strategists are on a never-ending quest to eliminate the single biggest barrier to their legislative utopia – the United States Senate’s filibuster rule.

Member Post

 

US Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and his colleagues are right to be upset over negotiations with Democrats in the White House and Congress over infrastructure spending. But the Senior Senator from South Carolina’s short-term prescription for playing hardball – denying the Senate a quorum to conduct business – probably isn’t going to work. Here’s why. […]

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Has Snidely Whiplash Schumer Been Foiled Again?

 

As previously discussed, Senate Democrats, with their slim tie-breaking vote majority, have been trying to find a way to pass an aggressive agenda. It includes not just an expansive $2 trillion American Jobs Plan “infrastructure” spending package – very broadly defined – but a massive tax increase to pay for much of it.

The Senate’s 1974 budget rules provide the only way a majority party can pass legislation by a simple majority (51 votes, if everyone shows up, including the Vice President). But it has fit within the context of a federal budget – spending and taxes – with further “Byrd rule” prohibitions against “extraneous” items, increasing the deficit beyond a certain point and touching Social Security.

How Close Are Conservatives to Civil Disobedience?

 

How close are we to experiencing real civil disobedience? Not from the left, since we’ve always had that. Violent protests, including placing bombs in the US Capitol, have long been a feature of the left and almost ubiquitous since the Vietnam War. We saw it last summer during the George Floyd-inspired riots – over 500 violent incidents in more than 200 cities across the United States. The days of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s exhortations to “non-violence” now look quaint. But this time, from conservatives? What might disobedience from conservative Americans look like?

This is not an academic question. It may be closer to reality than you realize. And it will look nothing like the violent Antifa and BLM protests that have maimed dozens of police officers and destroyed thousands of businesses and a few federal buildings.

Member Post

 

I am always grateful to my friend Chris Stigall for appearing on his terrific podcast to talk about the Senate’s “filibuster” rule – requiring a supermajority of 60 votes to “end debate” on issues – and why you should be paying careful attention to it. Here’s the thing – Senate Democrats are globbing onto comments […]

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