• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Do you think the filibuster will be removed in this session of Congress?

Will the filibuster be removed?

  • Yes

    Votes: 69 31.4%

  • No

    Votes: 69 31.4%

  • It'll be changed, but not removed entirely

    Votes: 82 37.3%
  • Total voters
    220
Slash

Slash

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Sep 12, 2018
9,859
There's been some drama in the Senate with Chuck Schumer not agreeing to a power sharing agreement with Mitch McConnell over who controls the Senate committees. Mitch wants Chuck to ensure that no changes to the filibuster will be made before voting on this. Right now, Republicans still are the chars of each respective committee, even with a Democratic Senate majority. This made a lot of people think: Are Democrats seriously considering nuking the filibuster?

For those of you who don't know, the filibuster makes it so 60 members of the Senate are required to end debate on most topics and move to a vote. Most of the Democratic agenda won't get 10 Republican votes. Dems can still nominate judges/justices, pass budgetary legislation through reconciliation, and give Biden his Cabinet, but not much more with the current filibuster in place.

Senators like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema say that they want to keep it, so they would have to be convinced first. If Mitch blocks literally everything the Democrats want to do, it's possible that they could come around. If Republicans gain a trifecta, they could pass legislation even if all Democrats object with no filibuster in place.

Also to note, President Biden does not currently support abolishing the filibuster, but Obama recently came around and called it a "Jim Crow relic" when he spoke at John Lewis's funeral. Biden wants bipartisanship, but I have a hard time imagining Republicans wanting most of his agenda.

My question is: Do you think the Dems will actually go through and get rid of the filibuster before the 2022 elections? It's been suggested many times before, but it's earned plenty of skeptics among more conservative Democrats.
 
DekuBleep

DekuBleep

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,712
R's will do it at the next opportunity so D's should nuke at least enough of it to get things done now.

Mitch won't even allow a vote on chairmanship's now so...
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
They should, but I don't think they will.

Both sides know power is temporary, and this is a powerful tool they'll both want available.
 
dragonbane

dragonbane

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,583
Germany
Can't see it even though ERA made fantastic points that it should be abolished and that it won't hurt Dems in the long run much cause the GOP doesn't even want to pass legislation even if they can. I hope it gets changed at least so you actually need to speak the entire time
 
Mariolee

Mariolee

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,307
Yes, it will be removed. GOP doesn't even want to pass legislation when they're in power so it's a no lose situation for Dems.
 
Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,622
I think the first step would be to go back to a real filibuster where you have to sit there and talk to delay a vote. You shouldn't be able to say "Yeah, I'm gonna filibuster that" and then go to lunch.
 
Dark Knight

Dark Knight

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,270
dragonbane said:
Can't see it even though ERA made fantastic points that it should be abolished and that it won't hurt Dems in the long run much cause the GOP doesn't even want to pass legislation even if they can. I hope it gets changed at least so you actually need to speak the entire time
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not to mention it'd be near impossible for them to pass legislation that changes or removes new or upgraded social safety nets. Can't put that stuff back in the bottle without enraging your constituents.
Jedi2016 said:
I think the first step would be to go back to a real filibuster where you have to sit there and talk to delay a vote. You shouldn't be able to say "Yeah, I'm gonna filibuster that" and then go to lunch.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah honestly this sounds like a good compromise.
 
Chaosblade

Chaosblade

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,589
Keep the filibuster but modify it. Each senator gets one "freebie" filibuster per year as under the current rules, where they can push a vote to 60 instead of 50.

Freebie used and you want to obstruct? Going to have to work with another Senator to use theirs. Otherwise, time to start reading the dictionary.

Given that the other side could just continue throwing nearly identical bills up and requiring everyone to burn their filibusters to keep blocking it, this would basically only make it useful for the most divisive legislation. You know, kind of how it should be used in the first place.
 
KingK

KingK

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,847
UltimateHigh said:
voted no but hope im wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Same here.

I've been conditioned by the past 20 years of politics to expect Democrats to handicap themselves for no reason and constantly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I have zero faith in the leadership to make sound strategic decisions and don't have any confidence that they've learned a damn thing from the last two administrations.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I've been burned enough to not believe it until I see it.
 
Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,832
9f2.gif
 
Tahnit

Tahnit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,965
It has to be. Turtle still wants to obstruct even though he doesnt have power. If things were on the other end they would kill the fillibuster day 1.
 
less

less

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,836
It's dead. Only a matter of time and over what. The agenda Dems have necessitates its death and Dem leadership is very well aware of what will happen if it doesn't go.
 
Jeremy

Jeremy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,639
I think an extreme nerf is more likely, but gone entirely is more likely than not changed at all, I think.

McConnell threatening to filibuster committee assignments backfired spectacularly.
 
XMonkey

XMonkey

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,827
I think it will be changed to the point where it's a hollow shell of what it is now and will no longer be able to block legislation effectively.
 
NCR Ranger

NCR Ranger

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,846
I think it will be gutted as much as possible over being removed. As I believe the latter would require at least some republicans to be on board. If I am wrong then either is equally possible.

I don't see it staying as is though unless the democrats have completely forgot the last 12 or so years. The republicans have no interest in governing and can successfully argue to their base that any change is bad change. The democrats need to get shit passed and need to lose as little as time possible to republicans stonewalling.

Unless Mitch and the gang come to the table and start acting in good faith to get legislation both sides can live with passed. Though I am pretty sure Mitch's political calculus correctly shows that their base is more likely to punish them for working with the dems than doing nothing for another four years. I just doing see it staying in its current form unless the dems are willing to give up on any meaningful legislation being passed on their watch. Of course with the margins as thin as they are it is possible some misguided democrat from a red state will fuck it all up anyway.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,981
If Republicans rebuke Bidens first covid relief bill, it's done. Biden loves the institutions of the senate, he'd prefer to get legislation and keep the fillibuster, but he's not going to be holding his hand out with noone there to shake it for 2 years.
 
MrRob

MrRob

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
6,671
Wow... at the poll.

I don't think I've ever seen such an even split. Nobody has a clue what's going to happen.
 
RiOrius

RiOrius

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,073
dragonbane said:
I hope it gets changed at least so you actually need to speak the entire time
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I honestly don't understand people who believe this is some sort of solution. There are fifty Republican Senators that can hand off speaking duty in shifts. It's not a problem. And since the GOP wants to stop literally everything that the Senate wants to pass, it's frankly a feature that they'd get to obstruct the entire congress at once.

Not to mention, just in principle, our legislative fucking chamber should not operate on the basis of Senators' bodily endurance. This should not be a factor in a reasonable government, so why any sane person would want to add it in is beyond me. What next, a three-legged race to see who gets to chair the House Oversight Committee?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.