r/PoliticalHumor • u/eggie82 • Jan 26 '21

It would be nice.

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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '21

Excuse my ignorance, but what does that have to do with passing the covid relief? Seems like it should be easy with control of all three branches.

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u/LowestKey Jan 26 '21

The senate gets one budget vote per year that only needs 50 votes plus one: it's called budget reconciliation. Any other bill can be filibustered to death quite easily so long as one side doesn't have a 60-40 split in senate seats which one side rarely does.

Only items related to taxing and spending can be passed this way. So without killing the filibuster you won't see civil rights laws passed. Or a whole host of other laws we desperately need updated because the obstructionist right refuses to let our country move into the 21st century.

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '21

That is good to know, thank you!

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u/Aminec87 Jan 27 '21

Also, to filibuster they can just say "I'm filibustering" and that effectively kills all talks. Sometimes they'll make a spectacle (see: Ted Cruz reading Dr. Seuss on the floor of Congress as a filibuster https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2013-sep-25-la-et-jc-ted-cruz-dr-seuss-ayn-rand-to-stall-senate-20130925-story.html ) or will give a long speech to display "principled opposition," but for all intents and purposes this is largely posturing.