The Senate Keeps The Filibuster - But That Could Change

Minority Leader McConnell has withdrawn his objection to the proposed Senate rules. That means the new rules (which are the same as in 2001 - the last time the Senate was equally divided) allow the Democrats to take chairmanships over Senate committees.

It also means the Senate retains the right of members to filibuster legislation, and 60 votes are still required to end a filibuster.

McConnell had been holding out for a Democratic promise to retain the filibuster regardless of what happens. Majority Leader Schumer rejected that. He said the filibuster will remain for now, but Democrats reserve the right to eliminate it if it is misused -- if the Republicans use it to block all or most Democratic legislation instead of negotiating a compromise on legislation.

Currently, three Democratic senators are against eliminating the filibuster -- Sen. Manchin (West Virginia), Sen. Sinema (Arizona), and Sen. Tester (Wyoming). One of those senators (Tester) has already said he could change his mind if it is used to create gridlock in the Senate, and if that happens, the other two might change also. 

If all 48 Democrats and the 2 Independents (who caucus with Democrats) vote to change the rules and eliminate the filibuster, it will happen -- even if all 50 Republicans vote against that. The 51st and deciding vote would come from Vice-President Harris.
 

The Big Winners Of The Georgia Senate Elections

 The senate elections in Georgia are over, and I have to admit I was mildly surprised at the outcome. I expected Republicans to come out in droves in Georgia after losing the presidential election and make sure they re-elected their senators -- but that didn't happen. 

The people who came out in droves were the Democrats and Independents, who didn't want the two corrupt Republicans to represent them.Jon Offoff defeated Perdue by about 27,000 votes, and Rev. Warnock defeated Loeffler by even more -- over 64,000 votes. Both men had a larger winning margin than Biden did when he won the state.

We can't call Georgia a blue state yet, but it has turned a rather nice shade of purple.

But as happy as I am about the Warnock and Ossoff victories, I don't think they were the biggest winners in that election. They will be good senators, but perhaps the biggest winner of the night was Senator Chuck Schumer.

As Minority Leader in the Senate, Schumer has had very little power. He has had to watch as Mitch McConnell (the GOP Majority Leader) blocked hundreds of bills passed by the Democratic House -- refusing to bring them up for debate or a vote in the Senate.

That won't happen anymore. With the two Democratic victories, Senator Chuck Schumer now becomes the Majority Leader in the Senate. 

Democratic bills will at least be debated and voted on in the Senate now -- and that's a very good thing.

The other big winner was Stacey Abrams. When she vowed to do a voter registration effort to flip Georgia blue, most people appreciated the effort -- but didn't give her a great chance of success.

They were wrong. She not only got hundreds of thousands of voters registered, but she got them to the polls. And she is, in my opinion, primarily responsible for the statewide Georgia victories of Biden, Warnock, and Ossoff.

She is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and no one should ever underestimate her again. 

She doesn't just promises -- she delivers!