The filibuster
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I think I lost my GKSRs at The Old (New) Coffee Room...
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/byron-yorks-daily-memo-the-democrats-filibuster-hypocrisy
On April 7, 2017, less than four years ago, a majority of Democrats in the U.S. Senate joined a majority of Republicans to sign a letter supporting the filibuster. The letter, to Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Charles Schumer, began: "We are writing to urge you to support our efforts to preserve existing rules, practices, and traditions as they pertain to the right of members to engage in extended debate on legislation before the United States Senate."
The senators continued: "We are united in our determination to preserve the ability of members to engage in extended debate when bills are sent to the floor." The Senate plays a "unique role" in the legislative process, the senators said, and that role should continue unchanged. "Therefore, we are asking you to join us in opposing any effort to curtail the existing rights and prerogatives of senators to engage in full, robust, and extended debate as we consider legislation before this body in the future," the letter concluded.
Thirty-three Democrats signed the letter -- Senators Chris Coons, Joe Manchin, Claire McCaskill, Patrick Leahy, Angus King, Mark Warner, Michael Bennet, Amy Klobuchar, Bob Casey, Martin Heinrich, Jeanne Shaheen, Sherrod Brown, Dianne Feinstein, Kirsten Gillibrand, Brian Schatz, Heidi Heitkamp, Cory Booker, Maria Cantwell, Mazie Hirono, Joe Donnelly, Jon Tester, Thomas Carper, Kamala Harris, Maggie Hassan, Bill Nelson, Tammy Duckworth, Tim Kaine, Jack Reed, Ed Markey, Debbie Stabenow, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Bob Menendez. Some are now gone, but most remain in the Senate today.
One of the filibuster supporters was then-Senator Kamala Harris, now Vice President of the United States.
Remember that in April 2017, Democrats were in the minority in the Senate. It was not surprising that they wanted to defend minority rights. But 28 Republicans, a majority of the Senate GOP, also signed the letter, even though the president, Donald Trump, was of their own party and supported eliminating the filibuster. Both leaders, Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer, opposed killing the filibuster.
Now, much has changed. Nearly all Senate Democrats, including Schumer, want to kill the filibuster. Only two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have publicly supported keeping the filibuster.
Their supporters condemn the filibuster as racist, a "relic of Jim Crow." It is unclear why so many Democrats would have supported a "relic of Jim Crow" so recently -- less than four years ago -- but in any event they have now experienced moral enlightenment and want to eliminate the filibuster.
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I, like most adults, do my absolute best not to act hypocritically even though as human beings we're pretty much destined to provide evidence of hypocrisy from time-to-time. Politicians seem immune from such the fear of being or being perceived as hypocritical.
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@kluurs said in The filibuster:
I, like most adults, do my absolute best not to act hypocritically even though as human beings we're pretty much destined to provide evidence of hypocrisy from time-to-time. Politicians seem immune from such the fear of being or being perceived as hypocritical.
This is the post of the
dayweek.
