Senate Filibuster

Six Month Anniversary Of President Joe Biden: A Positive Change And High Public Opinion Ratings!

Ronald 1 Comment

Today, July 20, marks the six month Anniversary of the Joe Biden Presidency!

What a vastly different six months these have been, and Joe Biden’s public opinion ratings rank in the high 50s to low 60s, depending on which assessment is examined.

Many problems have arisen, as with any President who comes into office, but Biden is pushing ahead on infrastructure legislation, and wants a large “human infrastructure” bill, based on “reconciliation”, 50 Democratic votes and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema continue to present problems in trying to overcome the filibuster, and may prevent progress on voting rights, very sad indeed.

Foreign policy issues are rearing their ugly head, including new ones on Cuba and Haiti in just the last few weeks.

This along with the usual foreign policy challenges, with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

Environmental progress has been outstanding, and while the unvaccinated remain a problem with the Delta Variant of COVID 19, and the unhelpful propaganda against vaccination by right wing media, it is still amazing how many Americans have already shown patriotism and common sense on this matter.

If only Joe Biden had the conditions of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933-1936 and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1964-1966, he would have been able to accomplish much more, but still there is optimism, and the hope is for greater progress in the next six months!

Republicans Bringing Back The “Jim Crow Era” On Voting Rights

Ronald 2 Comments

The Republican Party is shaming its own history by bringing back the “Jim Crow Era” on voting rights.

The movement to guarantee that all Americans can vote is being made out to be a bad development, with false claims of voter fraud, when the Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2020 were conducted properly, with no evidence of fraud.

But former President Donald Trump has claimed he won the Presidency, still saying so seven and a half months after the election results were finalized.

So the Republicans are preventing a full restoration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was curtailed by the evil action of the John Roberts Supreme Court in Shelby County V Holder in 2013.

This is very frustrating, as the filibuster, requiring 60 votes just to debate the topic, is being denied!

It will require voters to be very dedicated to overcome the corrupt, evil action of the Senate Republicans!

Democrats, Popular Vote, And Economic Performance Way Ahead Of Republicans

Ronald 5 Comments

Democrats have won the national popular in seven of the last eight Presidential elections, from 1992-2020, with exception of 2004.

Democrats have had more people vote for their candidates for Congress than Republicans in the past two decades.

Democrats have only presided in the White House for one of the past eleven economic downturns, a brief recession in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter, with the other ten under Republican Presidents from Eisenhower to Trump, 1953-2021.

Under Democratic Presidents since 1961, the stock market, job growth, and economic performance have done much greater than Republican Presidents in the same period.

And yet, Democrats are at a political disadvantage, due to:

The Electoral College

Political Gerrymandering of House seats

Republicans working to undermine Democratic Presidents with the Senate Filibuster

This is why Democrats need to play “hardball”, and overcome the barriers of gerrymandering and filibusters, and move to make Washington DC and Puerto Rico the 51st and 52nd states. Also add members to the Supreme Court to overcome the political manipulation of Mitch McConnell, who helped to create a stacking of the high Court with the refusal to approve Merrick Garland in 2016, the rightful nominee of Barack Obama; and the “ram through” of Amy Coney Barrett in record time before the Presidential Election of 2020!

Major Opportunity For Advancement Of Biden Initiatives Through “Reconciliation”!

Ronald 1 Comment

The US Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that “Reconciliation”, the idea that the Senate can pass legislation by a 51 vote margin, is allowable, already for the COVID 19 legislation that was passed in March, but also now other Joe Biden initiatives, including the infrastructure legislation, and hopefully, other important Biden administration initiatives.

This is a true blessing, and might mean that the idea of ending the filibuster might not need to occur on much important legislation.

This makes it possible for Joe Biden to be more “liberal” and “progressive” a President than any Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson six decades ago.

For all the good that Democratic Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama did while in office, Joe Biden MIGHT indeed surpass them in accomplishments!

The future looks very exciting, but there is a long way to go, but the hope is there!

Time To Modify The Senate Filibuster So That Direct Action On Many Issues Can Be Taken!

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The filibuster is a anti democratic tactic used for many decades to prevent progress.

For a long time, the requirement was 67 Senators, two thirds of the Senate, to overcome a filibuster.

Lyndon Johnson was famous for fighting the filibuster, and overcoming the barrier in 1964 to pass the landmark Civil Rights Act of that year.

In 1975, the barrier of the filibuster was lowered to 60 Senators to end debate, and allow for a vote on legislation and appointments.

With the Republican Party refusing to cooperate at all on the COVID 19 Pandemic legislation, after almost all House and Senate members of both parties did so twice in 2020, it is time to move, at least, to lower the threshold from 60 to 55 Senators, in order to be able to make progress.

Ted Cruz A Villain, Wendy Davis A Hero On Health Care

Ronald 5 Comments

Texas Senator Ted Cruz failed to break the record of a filibuster today, stopping after 21 hours and 19 minutes, while the record remains 24 hour and 18 minutes by Strom Thurmond in 1957.

Also, Senator Alfonse D’Amato of New York and Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon surpassed Cruz in time spent on a filibuster.

Cruz is no hero, as he had a few breaks with assistance from fellow Tea Party activists Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, James Inhofe, and a few other Republican Senators, and went off topic, referring to Dr. Seuss, Star Wars, Ashton Kutcher, and other extraneous topics.

On the other hand, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis spent 13 hours in her filibuster against the limitations on Texas health care recently, with no assistance allowed by others, and no extraneous topics allowed.

And Wendy Davis was speaking FOR health care, while Cruz has worked AGAINST health care coverage.

So Ted Cruz is a villain, while Wendy Davis is a hero!

The Filibuster Champions: Ted Cruz And Rand Paul, Self Destructing Before Our Eyes!

Ronald 18 Comments

The Senate filibuster used to be employed to prevent civil rights legislation, with South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond becoming infamous for the longest individual filibuster in Senate history in 1957 on that subject. Thurmond does not look very good in history due to his prejudiced, narrow minded stand on that topic.

Now Senator Rand Paul has used the filibuster tactic months ago to protest drone policy on foreign soil, and a crazy fear that drones would be used against Americans on domestic soil.

And Senator Ted Cruz is right this minute using the filibuster to attempt to destroy ObamaCare, denying millions of Americans the opportunity to have decent health care.

Neither Paul from months ago, and Cruz today, are going to change American policy, as the President will use drones only overseas, as a measure of defense and security policy against terrorists, including Americans who fight for the enemy; and ObamaCare will proceed, no matter what Cruz says or does.

But in the process, only the loonies on the extreme right will rally to either Paul or Cruz, and the Tea Party movement may have impact in the House of Representatives and with a few Senators, but both men are self destructing before our eyes by their own words and actions! If the GOP is nuts enough to nominate either of these characters for President, they will get what they deserve, a walloping defeat in 2016!