Posted on 10/01/2021 4:01:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
There was a time not very long ago when political parties never would have entertained the idea of jamming through any massive, generational reform without some form of buy-in from the other party.
Today, Democrats argue that the filibuster's imaginary threat of "minority rule" has compelled them to use (really, abuse) the budgetary reconciliation process to jam through their entire agenda in the most expensive bill in American history. In the days before the Affordable Care Act vote fight forever changed the Senate, nearly every major post-war reform bill easily passed the 60-vote threshold: The Civil Rights Act got 73 votes in the Senate; Medicare and Medicaid got 68; the Voting Rights Act had 77; the Clean Air Act passed with 73; Ronald Reagan's 1981 tax-reform bill got 89; the 1996 welfare-reform bill had 74; No Child Left Behind got 91; and the PATRIOT Act had 98, just to name a few.
Certainly, this is not to contend that simply because a bill can attract bipartisan support, it is a good one. But the idea that government can't function with the filibuster in place is a notion debunked by history. It is true that the filibuster stops a party that is intent on governing unilaterally and steamrolling half the country using a razor-slim, fleeting majority. Or, at least, it once did. Which only means the filibuster was working. And if the ideological chasm between the parties is too wide to forge compromise, then it's not the time for Washington to be passing wide-ranging generational legislation anyway. Nothing in the Constitution says a party must pass big, transformational bills. It's a choice.
Indeed, Democrats used the filibuster over 300 times during the Trump years to stop Republicans. (Unlike the Dems' agenda bill, the 2017 Republican tax cut was clearly a budgetary concern -- though they should have refrained from passing it using reconciliation as well.) Now Democrats want to run the country using a simple majority in an evenly split Senate. And, as they did with "Obamacare," they are now negotiating only with themselves. Back in 2009-2010, moderate Democrats, of which there were many more, all caved under pressure. Most of them lost their seats over the next few years.
West Virginia moderate -- and today, "moderate" means voting for around $5 trillion in spending already -- Sen. Joe Manchin says Democrats need to elect more liberals if they want to go above his $1.5 trillion. Manchin represents a state that Donald Trump won by 69%, not the Democratic Party. And Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema hails from a state that Joe Biden won by a mere 11,000 votes. The idea that their constituencies -- or ones in Montana or the exurbs of Pennsylvania -- are clamoring for a massive government expansion written by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders is risible. It is almost certain that the vast majority of Americans have no idea what is even inside the reconciliation bill. Who knows? That may be the case for most of Congress.
As of this writing, we don't know how the reconciliation battle will play out. For Democrats, the consequence of "0bamacare" was the loss of 1,000 seats nationally and, perhaps, the presidency of Donald Trump. Perhaps they believe it was worth the price. I'm not sure what the cost will be for altering American governance in this manner with a single bill corruptly crammed through the budget process, but it will be unprecedented and, almost surely, make American politics far worse in every way imaginable.
They seem to be bent on destroying the country with their actions/policies. Many parents have told children, “Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.”
Green Bad Deal will change everyone’s life.
Bankrupting the USA. It’s a communist goal. Well known for decades.
Once any part of this bill passes - the amount does not matter, they will be continually funded until the end of time. This is why Manchin caved to 1.5 trillion. It the government funded programs that are important.
In 2018, a progressive wave swept into Congress. They are surrounded by a celebrity bubble that tells them they are not only right, but in the majority. They now have sympathetic Democrats in charge of the House, the Senate and the presidency.
They decided to go for broke. The result?
The For the People Act died in the Senate.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act died in the Senate.
Amnesty died in the Senate.
Corporate tax increases died in the Senate.
The Equality Act died in the Senate.
Filibuster reform died in the Senate.
The Green New Deal died in the Senate.
Reconciliation died in the Senate.
Now the progressives will kill the bipartisan infrastructure plan, which included some of what they wanted, because it is not enough. They will take no wins unless they can have all the wins. Zealots always prefer to live in hell if they can’t get Heaven exactly as they want it. h/t Erick Erickson
They will agree to 1.5 trillion, which is 1.5 trillion too much. They will say how much they saved us by only wasting 1.5 trillion. It’s all predicable.
BRIAN RIEDL ——— Only in Leftieland Somehow Dems consider $1.5 trillion a ‘compromise’
You know things have gone crazy when a trillion dollars is considered a compromise.
But this is where today’s Biden/Pelosi Democratic party stands.
This the bill that has the raises for ssi, ssdi, va, socsec, and railroad beneficiaries.
This is the bill that has the stimulus check.
Since I am a disabled vet/senior citizen, and with no heirs or old ladies waiting for me to die, and with the current cerebral minimalism of the 30 year Olds, I want this to pass.
Why not hasten their skip-rope dance to indentured.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.