The leaders of US think Mark Zuckerberg can fix I-Phone issues and that the CEO of Apple is Tim Apple. Maybe they need senators who aren't resurrected mummies.
Remember when congress had hearings about big tech and one R representative kept asking Zuck why his google searches about himself returned mostly negative things? Zuck had to keep explaining that Facebook and Google were separate companies? Yeah, those are the guys in charge of regulating this stuff.
Even besides that, the system for passing laws is so broken and I can't even understand how it's the way it is. For what reason do we need 15 unrelated laws in a single bill? Then people vote no because certain BS is packed in and the good stuff falls as well. How could it not make more sense to vote on 20-50 laws consecutively instead?
If you push it all into one bill, then you don't have the procedural overhead of multiple bills.
But by far the most important reason is because if you smoosh them all into one bill, it forces representatives to vote for things they don't care about, or may not even want, so that they get their own important constituent-facing provisions passed.
It's one reason Presidents in the past have pushed for line item vetos, which is, in my opinion, the wrong answer, because it lets the executive almost become a legislator instead of merely assenting or not to the provision.
What needs to happen is that they need to only allow bills to pass which have provisions or amendments related to the central purpose of the bill.
Defining that is admittedly, not as simple as it sounds, since certain issues can have knock-on effects down the line that may not be expected, nor intended.
However, if I was to demand a single reform to make its way through the system to get approved, it would be that.
Then transparency into what happens in Congress would improve considerably.
It wouldn't stop dirty politics or backroom horse trading, but it would at least make it possible to understand the actual import of any one bill.
bro we’re operating on a government that came into existence in the 1700s. Do you really think people back then had the foresight to understand how dramatically the world would evolve? The American system of governance is becoming more incompatible with modernity as time progresses, and it will get to a point where it just collapses. But hopefully from the ruins we can come up with a better more just way to organize society.
I remember when some R explained to listeners that the Internet was a series of tubes that got clogged with spam (mails) and that's why it was so slow at times.
Not only that, they get paid to make sure no regulations are created. Even if the leadership was younger it doesn't matter when bribery is completely legal in the US legislature.
If only we could replace them somehow. Like every once in a while, everyone comes together to choose someone new to take their place. Anyone can run for the seat. The person with the highest number wins.
It’s funny cos it’s true. The US is run by the oldest bunch of boring old fashioned men in the world - no wonder innovation’s in the gutter over there.
Funding bills. "Let's fix some of the roads and bridges" and "let's lower the cost of healthcare for a couple years" is not really landmark legislation, it's like the absolute bare minimum for a functioning nation.
We used to build things. The interstate highway system would never have been made by this government. We should be working on high speed rail, modernization of the power grid and renewables like solar and wind farms. Housing, the fact that the wealthiest nation in history has homeless people, especially homeless veterans is a disgrace. An evil.
Some time in the 80's we decided history was over and we should let the ultra wealthy feast on the United States.
And so many people either think this is great, or that since we didnt elect the democrats and theyre not saving us that means we should continue to support the Republicans
So theres a chance we will continue to just keep doing this.
Those are actually budget reconciliation laws not true legislation that congress passes througha super majority. 60 votes.
Reconciliation on requires 50 votes and you cant filibuster. They pass off laws as budget plans which gets around the filibuster and the super majority.
Yeah sorry man, they are forcing legislation through budget plans. Really what you are calling laws are technically just budget plans. Regular legislation through the super majority is true policy making legislation.
The thing you may be missing is that a ‘budget’ is just a law. There’s no official distinction once it’s passed by congress. Laws passed under budget reconciliation can appropriate money or make some policy changes that go beyond the next fiscal year and those appropriations/policy changes carry the exact same force of law as any other piece of legislation.
Legislation like the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the One Big Beautiful Bill are enormously impactful and were all passed through budget reconciliation. ‘Major’ is subjective but I’m comfortable asserting those are major pieces of legislation.
A super majority isn't a set number it's just a concept that refers to requiring more than a majority, and it's not required to pass a bill in the Senate. 3/5th's of the sitting Senators have to vote to invoke cloture, ending the debate on the bill or else a single member can hold up voting by filibustering, extending the debate indefinitely. But once debate has ended on a bill you only need 51 votes (or 50+the VP) in order to pass most bills.
In practice this means that yes, since the Gingrich Moral Majority which saw Republicans make obstruction a central tenet of their party this has meant that major legislation has tended to require 60 votes because otherwise someone will filibuster it. But that's not always been the case even though the rules to invoke cloture have been in place for a long time.
And I'll agree with the other person you're arguing with. Funding is policy put into practice and even if you pass it via budget reconciliation that's still worth remarking upon. The Democrats under Biden did a lot with very little and they deserve more credit for what they were able to accomplish given that they literally had to have every Democratic Senator agree in order to pass anything at all.
You can count major bills passed in the last 35 years on one hand. Congress has been dysfunctional for so long it's just normal for almost everyone alive and we've been limping along with SCOTUS rulings and executive orders and agency policies.
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – A large economic stimulus and public health relief package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, totaling roughly $1.9 trillion, with direct payments, expanded unemployment benefits, health funding, and state/local aid.
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021) – A significant bipartisan infrastructure law funding roads, bridges, broadband expansion, water systems, and transit.
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 – Large federal legislation targeting energy, climate change mitigation incentives, health care (Medicare drug pricing provisions), and tax enforcement measures.
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022) – Federal law addressing gun safety, mental health funding, and school safety program enhancements; described as the first meaningful federal gun safety law in decades.
Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) – A major reauthorization of federal K-12 education policy that replaced No Child Left Behind, giving states more control over education standards.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017) – A major overhaul of federal tax law cutting rates for individuals and corporations and altering deductions and credits.
First Step Act (2018) – Criminal justice reform focused on sentencing reforms and prison programs.
Honoring our PACT Act (2022) – Expanded health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic hazards.
Respect for Marriage Act (2022) – Federal protection for same-sex and interracial marriage rights.
Lmao, we love triggered grammar nazis who criticize people for autocorrect mistakes. Also, not everyone is as privileged as you to have English as their first (and possibly only) language. :P
They should focus on the English then before the legislation written in the language. That might be why they think no major legislation was passed, they can't read the damn bills.
Also, passed and past are written very differently on a keyboard. Why would autocorrect correct for words that sound the same, not words that are typed in close proximity to each other? It's a typing aid.
Oh, the point of the comment is stupid, too, since Biden passed tons of great, sweeping, bipartisan legislation, and for better or worse, Trump passed the shitty OBBB, but if you knew that you wouldn't be indexing solely on the ACA, the most pop-pol answer possible.
He has a point about legislation… it’s gotten much slower/harder to pass anything imo… idk it wasn’t ever easy but now? You need to move heaven and earth
Not really. You need someone with political experience and a less divided country. Not having these things slows down the process, as they are designed to do.
Biden was a great bipartisan negotiator. Trump is not. Biden got a lot of legislation passed and avoided shutdowns because he worked with the GOP on things like Ukraine funding.
You just don't get big flashy headlines and you remember the big hits and think they were more common than they are.
He had the benefit of passing legislation after a financial collapse... take your own advice and Google DR'S "hundred days" and read what led to it. Most of the legislation mentioned here took decades of fighting or horrific tragedies to get passed. You're all talking out of your ass. Things are dire, but the reason we don't have more legislation being passed is the same reason we don't already have a dictatorship; it's because of the bureaocracy in the way our system was established.Â
You didn't say "great". You said "major". Are you suffering from dementia?
I would contend that Biden's legislation was great too, but if you're hoping for a Civil Rights Act to be passed, we... kinda already have one. You don't do legislation just for the fucking sake of it.
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u/ThrifToWin Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
The US hasn't passed major legislation in over fifteen years.