Schumer Delivers Ultimatum on Filibuster; Sinema and Manchin Say “Nah”
[guest post by JVW]
Chuck Schumer continues to run the Senate like a poker player who thinks that his pair of fours is actually three Aces:
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer announced Monday that the chamber would debate eliminating the filibuster in the coming weeks if Republicans refuse to join Democrats in passing sweeping voting legislation.
While the filibuster was designed to empower the minority party in the Senate, Schumer argued that it now serves to “embarrass the will of the majority,” against the founders’ intentions for legislative procedure. He claimed that Republicans should not be allowed to block the Freedom to Vote Act, using the vehicle of the filibuster, that only further enshrines and expands the American right to vote.
Schumer has previously expressed support for altering the filibuster but the statement is his strongest in favor of the idea.
The “will of the majority” isn’t truly the will of a “majority” when your side has 50 Senators and the other side has 50 Senators leaving you dependent upon the Vice-President of the United States casting a tie-breaking vote, that is assuming you can hold together all 50 members of your caucus. And indeed, Sen. Schumer is being smacked straight in the face with the reality that his caucus is not united on this issue. From Axios:
Voting rights: Schumer says the Senate will vote on a package of Senate rules changes by Jan. 17 — less than two weeks away.
* While Manchin said he’s still talking with his colleagues, he isn’t on board with a filibuster carve-out for voting rights — calling it “a heavy lift” — and isn’t willing to go nuclear and eliminate the filibuster altogether.
* “Once you change a rule, or you have a carve-out … you eat the whole turkey,” the senator told a COVID-thinned group of pool reporters on Tuesday.
* He added that he would want any reform of Senate rules to have GOP buy-in — a long-shot to near impossible ask.Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), also a key holdout to major filibuster reform, reiterated during the Democratic lunch she will not support any effort to get rid of the 60-vote threshold, according to two sources familiar with the call.
* Sinema has been having one-on-one talks with her colleagues for weeks, one of the sources said.
(Yes, I hate Axios’ use of bullet points in this manner too.)
I get that Chuck Schumer finds himself trying to steer the Democrats’ ship through the rocky shoals of gridlock and partisanship while trying to avoid as much as possible the siren song of the Sanders-Warren left, but for the life of me I can’t understand why he would make these bold pronouncements before he’s sure that he has the votes lined up. Remember when Sen. Schumer haughtily announced that the Senate would vote on Build Back Better despite the opposition of Sen. Manchin, because the Majority Leader thought it was important to have all Senators vote on record for the public to see? Senate Dems have clearly abandoned that plan, and it’s not too much of a stretch to speculate that they may have lost the votes of other Senate Democrats (Krysten Sinema, Jon Tester) thus embarrassing themselves and the Biden Administration, and a “yes” vote on a failed bill could cause problems for some purplish state Democrat Senators facing reelection this year (Mark Kelly, Michael Bennett, Raphael Warnock, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan).
My advice to Senate Democrats is to jettison Chuck Schumer as Majority Leader and find someone who doesn’t believe that leadership is all about antagonizing colleagues whose votes you desperately need. Somebody less addicted to the limelight would probably be a better choice for Democrats given the circumstances. As much as the United States Senate really does not need another Bernard Sanders or Elizabeth Lieawtha Warren, at this point I might even be willing to root for our Adorably Ornery Clueless niece to defeat him in a primary — remote though that possibility may be — especially if she then goes on to lose to a Republican in the fall. Weirder things have happened.
– JVW
“I move we eliminate the filibuster for this bill here! We won’t do this next time, I promise!”
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:12 pmJVW —
AOC is not clueless. She can play the power game pretty well as well as the good looking woman game. Policy is secondary.
She will be Nancy Pelosi in 50 years.
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:13 pmI would love to see Schumer do this, and fail. Hell, I’d like to see him do anything and fail.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:13 pmSchumer, on the other hand, isn’t playing to win. He’s playing to increase donations. If the GOP want to cut the knees out from under him, they’ll push for that limited voting rights bill and dare Chucky to vote against it. Maybe Schumer will filibuster.
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:17 pmShe will be Nancy Pelosi in 50 years.
She will be the former Congresswoman from New York long before then. Did you know she is affiliated with a Socialist party that advocates the abolition of capitalism?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:17 pmAOC is not clueless.
OK, fine. But you need to help me find a word which begins with “C” to describe her. I choose “clueless” because she has no idea whatsoever how market economics works, how jobs are created, how private enterprise operates, and so many other things that one would hope a United States Representative would know.
JVW (ee64e4) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:18 pmShe will be the former Congresswoman from New York long before then.
She’ll be the Vice President for Equity, Multicultural Affairs, and Government Relations at Columbia University by the time she is 40. She’ll pull down $400,000 per year without having to do a damn thing, and she’ll still be a constant presence on CNN, MSNBC, or one of the networks as a (paid, naturally) commentator. She’ll run for some big office like governor of New York at some point and lose badly in the primary.
JVW (ee64e4) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:24 pmAOC’s handlers are not clueless and she knows how to follow directions. AOC herself doesn’t really play the power game, etc. She is good at doing that thing with the voice inflection.
frosty (f27e97) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:33 pmJVW —
Try Cutie. I don’t think it’s sexist in context (though the woke mob likely disagrees.)
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:45 pmTry Cutie.
Cute is as cute does. Besides, I already got the Boss in trouble with the gals at Wonkette once with my retrograde Eisenhower-era attitudes towards women; I sure would hate to do it again.
JVW (ee64e4) — 1/5/2022 @ 2:00 pmUntil AOC says she will run for re-election to congress and not senate chuckie has to look macho man. Most white men don’t like AOC. Most latinas love her and black and brown minorities like her. Liberal white women lover her too! White men here don’t understand the dynamics of politics in the democrat party. Liberal establishment democrats want to retain power. Progressives and far left want to take over the democrat party wither they are in power or not. Actually easier if not. The squad got elected when democrats were out of power.
asset (4cd24c) — 1/5/2022 @ 2:05 pm#11
Here’s one white guy who does.
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/5/2022 @ 2:19 pmI think Schumer isn’t even paying attention to what’s going on in the Senate. He’s trying to get along with the House of Representatives, and there Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to keep the loyalty of the “progressives” to pass whatever bills she is interested in.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/5/2022 @ 2:42 pmAOC is not clueless.
‘The Mouse That Roared’ – she’s not particularly sexy, either. ;=)
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/5/2022 @ 2:47 pm‘Chuck Schumer continues to run the Senate like a poker player who thinks that his pair of fours is actually three Aces…’
LOL. Yet that works for Vlad.
… and Putin smiled.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/5/2022 @ 2:49 pmBut you need to help me find a word which begins with “C” to describe her.
🤣🤣
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/5/2022 @ 3:49 pmUntil AOC says she will run for re-election to congress and not senate chuckie has to look macho man.
This is precisely why Chuck’s acting the way he is. He knows Ocasio-Cortez, or at least her handlers in the DSA, have their eyes set covetously on his seat to get the first actual Socialist Senator in Congressional history.
As for the woman herself, she’s Lauren Boebert if Boebert had an entire mass media complex boosting her signal and promoting her as a political rock star.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 1/5/2022 @ 5:25 pmSen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), also a key holdout to major filibuster reform, reiterated during the Democratic lunch she will not support any effort to get rid of the 60-vote threshold, according to two sources familiar with the call.
It’s nice to see the Democrats and their media allies have to deal with their own version of “Maverick” McCain.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 1/5/2022 @ 5:28 pm27, that’s alright FOW, I prefer not to lend out Palin daughter-esque Boebert from my HF list 😍
urbanleftbehind (c2e573) — 1/5/2022 @ 5:34 pmAOC is more likely to run against Kristen Gillebrand (who seems to have lost interest in being a Senator since her run for president) in 2024. Gillebrand might even retire and endorse her.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 1/5/2022 @ 5:43 pmAOC is not clueless. She can play the power game pretty well as well as the good looking woman game.
Power?
Don’t think we’ve ever head Nancy claim critics frustrated w/her just want to date or sleep with her. But then how many goldbricking wizards ever craved shacking up w/t Wicked Witch of the West?
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/5/2022 @ 5:43 pm6. JVW (ee64e4) — 1/5/2022 @ 1:18 pm
She;s a business failure.
She thought it was enough to get some government rental help for a business to work, and thought declaring she was going to publish children’s books that had stories that supposedly were set in real life of minority children would miraculously cause popular books to appear.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 1/5/2022 @ 5:50 pmhave their eyes set covetously on his seat to get the first actual Socialist Senator in Congressional history.
Bernie Sanders isn’t an actual Socialist Senator?
Mattsky (55d339) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:21 pmBernie Sanders isn’t an actual Socialist Senator?
He’s not been affiliated with a socialist party for some time now. Then again, he and his wife honeymooned in Gorbachev’s USSR. Paradise, comrade!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:30 pmDon’t think we’ve ever head Nancy claim critics frustrated w/her just want to date or sleep with her. But then how many goldbricking wizards ever craved shacking up w/t Wicked Witch of the West?
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/5/2022 @ 5:43 pm
I’ll date her for some of that gourmet ice cream.
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:30 pm@24 Didn’t you know, Kevin? Bernie is the one we have been waiting for! At last whe have somebody who knows how to implement Marxism correctly! He’s read all the books, and conversed at length with all the best New York and Vermont intellectuals. He’s going to make life “fair”.
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:34 pm@25. Spooning w/Nancy?
Ugh.
Use protection: Ask for a sugar cone. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:34 pm#21 —
So what are people talking about? AOC’s mask hypocrisy or her opinion of her looks? If Trump did an abrupt subject change like that, you’d call it genius.
Her policy is lame-o socialism. But that’s not what’s moving her forward.
Also, read AOC’s Twitter feed sometime. She’s wrongheaded but not stupid.
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:38 pm@27 Name another octogenarian who looks better than Pelosi. Other than Sophia Loren.
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:39 pm@24. OTOH, found it easier to get into Brezhnev’s Kremlin than Nancy’s Capitol.
… and Putin smiled.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:40 pm#29 — please knock it off. You are putting me off ice cream.
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:51 pm@31 😛
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:53 pm@29. Name another octogenarian who looks better than Pelosi. Other than Sophia Loren.
[ ] Jane Fonda, 84.
[ ] Raquel Welch, 81.
[ ] Joan Collins, 88.
Choose. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:53 pmAlso, read AOC’s Twitter feed sometime. She’s wrongheaded but not stupid.
Appalled (1a17de) — 1/5/2022 @ 6:38 pm
Like a lot of college graduate strivers these days, she has just enough education to think she knows more than she really does.
Factory Working Orphan (2775f0) — 1/5/2022 @ 7:26 pmFor some reason, I’m reminded of an Australia joke. “Everybody knows it’s down there, but nobody really cares.”
nk (1d9030) — 1/5/2022 @ 7:29 pmI don’t know about Joan Collins, but you got me on the other two, DCSCA.
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/5/2022 @ 9:50 pmIt doesn’t start with “C,” but I prefer “Socialist Barbie.”
Oh, no, now I have demonstrated my obsession with her looks blah blah blah…
Demosthenes (3fd56e) — 1/5/2022 @ 10:14 pmIt’s okay, Demosthenes. They called Sarah Palin “Caribou Barbie”.
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/5/2022 @ 10:34 pmLike a lot of college graduate strivers these days, she has just enough education to think she knows more than she really does.
“It’s not what she don’t know that hurts her, it’s what she knows that ain’t so.”
–Twain
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 1/5/2022 @ 11:17 pmI prefer “Socialist Barbie.”
With new tractor accessory and wardrobe to share with other Barbies on collective farm
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 1/5/2022 @ 11:21 pm@27 Name another octogenarian who looks better than Pelosi. Other than Sophia Loren.
Ann-Margret turned 80 this past April.
JVW (ee64e4) — 1/6/2022 @ 3:02 amWho cares about a filibuster? These ingrates on both sides need to be removed from office. Everyone of them.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/6/2022 @ 4:05 amStill think Miner Ken from WVA is going to sell out his constituents, but I’m hoping for the best.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 1/6/2022 @ 6:21 amMeanwhile, after bashing Trump’s inability to defeat Covid without a vaccine, Biden, who has the vaccine that the Trump administration created, now is calling Covid-19 “the new normal.”
Biden, in Shift, Prepares Americans to See Covid-19 as Part of Life
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 1/6/2022 @ 7:56 am43,
urbanleftbehind (c7d183) — 1/6/2022 @ 8:00 am…before or after Sinemax sells out hers?
Kevin @44. Biden, as is his
nk (1d9030) — 1/6/2022 @ 8:13 amnewnormal, will be repeating what I’ve been hearing the medical community, and not (only) the bureaucracy but the front-liners, say for a while now, soon after the Omicron spread.But that’s wrong again. There’s no reason to expect Omicron or Covid to become endemic. It won’t remain at a low level
Omicron will make Delta disappear, and then disappear itself, because it is infecting so many people. we’ll finally get herd immunity.
Just about when Biden succeeds in making universal testing available.
It could struggle along in some places for awhile.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 1/6/2022 @ 11:40 amThere’s some reason to expect it will. Omicron didn’t evolve from delta. There’s some research indicating that it is already a case of human -> animal -> human evolution, aka that’s it’s zoonotic. If that’s true I wouldn’t expect it to simply vanish given its other characteristics.
frosty (47863e) — 1/6/2022 @ 1:46 pmGood catch on Ann-Margret, JVW. Clearly, I didn’t do my research.
norcal (d4ed1d) — 1/6/2022 @ 3:29 pm@41/@49. Originally had her on my list, guys, but recent images of A-M aren’t particularly flattering in terms of aging well.
Same issue w/Ursula Andress, who is now 85.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/6/2022 @ 3:38 pmSame w/Brigitte Bardot, now 87.
https://www.barnorama.com/wp-content/images/2011/04/B307/14.jpg
This outta shock you.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/6/2022 @ 3:42 pmOTOH Barbara Eden is 90– and still a looker.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/6/2022 @ 3:44 pm@44. Biden, in Shift, Prepares Americans to See Covid-19 as Part of Life
Apparently ‘Failure IS an option.’
How Carteresque. Joey’s got his groove back. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 1/6/2022 @ 6:16 pm