[Hostage]

See Sundance’s article on the 60 vote rule and the 17th Amendment.

The only thing keeping the republic from rolling over into a mob-ruled democracy is the 60 vote rule.

If it hadn’t been for the 60-vote rule, single payer universal healthcare would have been passed by Pelosi in 2009.

So it works both ways.

The 60 vote rule is more than 200 years old. It defines the Senate, otherwise with the 17th Amendment, what’s the point in having a Senate?

Here is an illustration that was presented recently before the Texas legislature that repairs the damage done by the 17th Amendment:

************************************************
AMENDMENT XXVIII (’State Suffrage’)

To restore effective suffrage of State Legislatures to Congress, the following amendment is proposed:

************************************************
Section 1.
A Senator in Congress shall be subject to recall by their respective state legislature or by voter referendum in their respective state.

Section 2.
Term limits for Senators in Congress shall be set by vote in their respective state legislatures but in no case shall be set less than twelve years nor more than eighteen years.

Section 3:
The seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

************************************************

Congress will never propose such an amendment as the above. That is why George Washington’s friend and fellow Virginian made sure the states could propose it without Congress.

When the incredibly poor judgment behind the 17th Amendment was in control, part of the basis for its proposal was that the Senate had always had the 60-vote rule. And here we are today thinking well let’s get rid of it! That results in losing the republic to a mob.

Ryan is for using reconciliation tactics, not repeal.
Cruz is for blowing up Senate rules to use reconciliation, not repeal.
I am for repeal.

Bottom line is Congress does not hold the cards for repeal. President Trump holds the repeal cards but he will have to direct AG Sessions to play hardball with criminal democrats. That will clear the way for 60 votes and a repeal, not a temporary reconciliation.

If you take away anything, take away knowledge of the difference between ‘reconciliation’ and ‘repeal’.

[Always A Marine]

There is no such thing as a "60 Vote Rule" for passage of any senate bill; that threshold is only required to "invoke cloture" to end debate and proceed to a simple majority vote. If forced to actually carry out a real filibuster, the Democrats will not be able to hold the floor forever. And if the Republicans care to speed the process along, they can invoke Rule XIX's "Two Speech" limitation. Either way, a simple majority (50 plus the Vice President) is all that's required after the filibuster ends.

Republican cowards have hidden behind mere threats of Democrat filibusters for too long. Make them do it, and then vote when their tantrum is over.