Chuck Schumer throws down the gauntlet
Right now far too many pundits and activists are hung up on the false notion that Senate Democrats must get rid of the filibuster in order to pass anything. In reality the mere threat of killing the filibuster should be enough to keep Republicans from actually trying to filibuster anything. Besides, reconciliation rules mean the Democrats can pass whatever they want with just fifty votes.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is reminding us of that by offering Senate Republicans the chance to support the COVID relief bill, while also vowing to simply ram it through via reconciliation if the Republicans aren’t willing to get on board with it.
This allows the Democrats to look good in the eyes of voters in the middle by offering a bipartisan path, while also making progress happen by ramming it through with fifty votes once the Republicans reject that bipartisan path.
This strategy by Schumer and the Democrats is much more smart and savvy than the simplistic “We must kill the filibuster or all hope is lost” notion that’s being kicked around by far too many liberal pundits. If you don’t yet see why we don’t actually need to kill the filibuster in order to pass our legislation, that’ll become more clear as the Democrats keep passing their legislation.
