bigrus

Mitch McConnell’s words about the future of the filibuster come in detail

Harry November 8, 2024

Before the elections, various Democratic candidates and leaders, including Kamala Harris, totally on board With an overhaul of the Senate filibuster rule. Those efforts will have to wait a while, as the outgoing leader of Senate Republicans reminded the public the day after Election Day. HuffPost reported:

Even if President-elect Donald Trump tries to kill the filibuster, the Senate’s supermajority threshold for passing legislation will be safe with Republicans controlling the chamber, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday. “One of the most pleasing results of the Senate being Republican: The filibuster will survive,” McConnell said at a press conference at the Capitol.

Kentucky Republican who will resign as GOP leader says filibuster ‘very safe.”

It is worth emphasizing that Donald Trump may have a very different opinion on this issue. President of the time in his first term called many times for the bandit will be eliminatedIt’s easy to imagine him making a similar move when he returns to the White House.

But let’s say McConnell is right and this fraud will continue for at least two more years. Is this good news or bad?

To many Democrats, this may seem encouraging. After all, if Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress, the filibuster may be the only thing stopping the GOP majority from passing whatever they want.

But any conversation about the filibuster must focus on an underappreciated detail: Much of what Senate Republicans want can be accomplished with simple majorities, making the filibuster largely irrelevant.

Like we discussedIf GOP officials control Capitol Hill, they will approve tax cuts for billionaires through the budget reconciliation process, which requires 51 votes in the Senate, not 60. This is the same process by which Republicans tried to repeal Trump’s Affordable Care Act. The first term and party may well try to target health care benefits in the same way, and fraud will not be an option.

Similarly, for the past decade, the filibuster rule has had no impact on confirmation votes; That means that whatever happens to House control, Republicans can spend at least the next two years stacking the courts with young, far-right reactionaries. Some Supreme Court retirees.

The truth is that the GOP does not have a solid legislative agenda. If the party had spent 2025 and 2026 passing tax cuts for the wealthy, confirming partisan judges, and allowing the Trump administration to pursue radical goals through executive powers, Republicans would see it as time well spent. The banditry rule would remain intact, but it would also make no difference.

This post updates our relevant previous coverage.