Why All The Fuss Over The Filibuster ?

  1. Sharlee01 profile image84
    Sharlee01posted 23 months ago

    https://hubstatic.com/15532251_f1024.jpg
    In Biden's first address to Congress, he certainly laid out a very aggressive, not to mention expensive agenda. From the New green deal to a huge infrastructure spending proposal. His speech weighed heavily on promises of all kinds of goodies. 

    The Democrat's work has just begun. At this point, the  Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House. They have a lofty load of progressive legislation to offer up,  which includes democracy reforms, universal health care, climate change legislation, and immigration reforms. However, there is one stumbling block that one might say is taller than Trump's golden wall...  That would be the filibuster. To accomplish anything the Filibuster must be abolished.

    As the Senate’s rules exist today, Republicans in the Senate will still have the power to block every single progressive priority that comes before them, by using the filibuster, which requires at a minimum 60 votes to advance legislation.

    In my view the writing is on the wall ---  none of the progressive issues that Democratic leaders are discussing today will become law if the Republicans use the filibuster protocol.   Unless the Democrats make an attempt to change the rules and get rid of the filibuster.

    The filibuster is a simple procedural mechanism that allows the minority party to block legislation from advancing in the Senate. The filibuster is the ability to keep debate open on a legislative item until the Senate votes to close it. Closing a debate requires 60 votes, instead of the usual 50, and if you don’t have 60 votes, you can’t move to final voting. The practical result – in an era when both sides are playing legislative hardball – is that you need to either get 60 votes or bypass the filibuster to accomplish anything.   

    For most of the Senate’s 230-year history, legislation was passed with simple majorities. Even after the filibuster was created in the early 1800s, its use was rare. That changed in the second half of the 20th century when the filibuster was increasingly used by both parties to block legislation. Both parties have used the filibuster to cause gridlock, it has clearly become a weapon to a greater extent than ever before in order to kill pieces of legislation. An important thing to remember is that the filibuster is not required by the Constitution.

    The filibuster has been amended repeatedly, today it is actually much weaker than the original filibuster. Over the course of the last 100 or so years, the filibuster has been repeatedly weakened to avoid total gridlock and dysfunction.  In 1917, the Senate instituted a means for officially cutting off debate through a supermajority vote. Before this, there was no means of stopping a filibuster at all. With this change, cutting off debate now required two-thirds of all senators.

    In 1974, the Senate eliminated the filibuster for budget bills meeting certain requirements (a legislative process called “reconciliation”).

    In 1975, the Senate lowered the thresholds for ending a filibuster to 60 Senators.

    In 2013, the Senate eliminated the filibuster entirely for federal executive branch appointees and judicial appointments, other than the Supreme Court.

    In 2017, the Senate eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.

    At this point, the Democrats are considering doing away with the filibuster.  Eliminating the filibuster is actually simple. All it takes to eliminate the filibuster is a simple majority vote in the Senate — and this can be done at any time. Mitch McConnell, can then initiates a filibuster. Democrats can then hold a vote, and with just 50 votes eliminate the filibuster and prevent McConnell from vetoing the legislation.

    Will the Democrats deal with risk-averse in regard to getting rid of the filibuster? One might keep in mind some members of Congress often take the path of status quo, that in some incidents serve their political careers better to keep status quo rather than take bold action.

    Do you feel the Democrats will do away with the filibuster?

    If so,  without the filibuster safeguard protocol how will it affect Governing in general?

    Will doing away with the filibuster severely change America's Democracy?

    1. Sharlee01 profile image84
      Sharlee01posted 23 months agoin reply to this

      Hey, anyone concerned about all the earmarks  (pork) being added to Joe's Infrastructure bill?   It's astronomical!

      Makes me wonder what we would do without the filibuster at this point to stop this kind of legislature. Not sure when Americans are going to wake up and realize at this point we are printing money to pay for all this BS. And that this kind of spending will ultimately, and quickly devalue our dollar.  Inflation has already poked up its ugly head in gas prices, and consumer goods of all kinds. And Biden has only been in office a couple of months.  Inflation is not sneaking up, it's stampeding. 

      Any thoughts on Joe's infrastructure bill, and the obvious need for the filibuster to stop this kind of fluffy pork rine spending?

      https://hubstatic.com/15539706_f1024.jpg

  2. gmwilliams profile image83
    gmwilliamsposted 23 months ago

    If the Democrats have their way, America will be bankrupt because of their inane policies.   I sincerely hope that McConnell DOES INITIATE A FILIBUSTER.  The Democrats need to be contained like wild rabid dogs.  The Democrats are OUT OF CONTROL.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)