What’s Happening:
Many Americans wondered what the Democrats would do, now that they have the slimmest of margins in the Senate.
Some worried that they’d eliminate the filibuster, which would open the floodgates to a radical agenda.
Mitch McConnell was trying to grind the Senate to a halt, until he could get Schumer to agree to keep the rule.
Schumer wouldn’t budge. But it turns out, he didn’t have to, because one of his own turned on him. From Daily Caller:
Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema will not support eliminating the filibuster and her mind cannot be changed, according to a spokesperson…
With Sinema coming out against abolishing the filibuster, it makes it highly unlikely it could happen, as Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has also said he will not vote to do so.
Two Democrat senators have openly opposed ending the filibuster. That means it is unlikely they will be able to.
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Thanks to this surprising turn of events, McConnell is willing to move forward. From Fox News:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday set aside his demand that a provision preserving the legislative filibuster be included in his power-sharing agreement with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — paving the way for the upper chamber to officially form committees and start tackling major legislative issues on the Biden agenda.
Moderate Democrats stepped up and made it clear they were in no way willing to support an end to the filibuster rule.
That includes Arizona’s Sinema and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin. Their offices made it very clear they were not going to support any effort by Democrats to end this rule.
The filibuster provides the minority party in the Senate a way to prevent bills from being passed. Only with a vote of 60 senators could a filibuster be overruled.
This gives Republicans leeway in the Senate, something vital if we believe in this thing called democracy. It forces Democrats to build consensus rather than just pushing through whatever they want.
Democrats threatened to eliminate this rule, once they got enough votes. That would have resulted in Republicans being unable to resist their radical agenda, which potentially included packing the courts, adding new states, and other major changes.
It also means that if Democrats in the Senate want to fulfill Biden’s agenda, they need support from Republicans. Otherwise, they could filibuster any bill they didn’t like.
Do you think Democrats be able to negotiate with Republicans?
Source: Daily Caller, Fox News