By BRUCE MAPLES
Forward Kentucky Publisher
Good morning! Democrats in DC are stuck between a rock (Joe Manchin) and a hard place (Mitch McConnell).
Let me explain.
Current Senate rules require 60 votes to pass anything significant. Why? Because of the filibuster, a self-imposed rule. Originally, it meant a member could delay or stop a bill by talking and talking and talking. The only way to stop the senator's filibuster was by voting to stop it (a motion known as "cloture") – but, you had to have 60 votes for the cloture motion to pass. Over time, the talking part went away (for the most part), but the threat of talking meant you still had to have 60 votes for cloture.
So, since the Dems only have 50 votes plus the VP, they need 10 Republicans to vote with them to get anything passed. And with Mitch McConnell leading the Republicans, that's not going to happen.
The Dems COULD vote by a simple majority to change the rules to get rid of the filibuster completely, thus making all votes simple majorities, and thus making it possible for them to pass all the major legislation they want to pass. (The COVID relief bill is moving under a process called "reconciliation" which only needs 50 votes – but they can only use reconciliation once per budget year.)
So why don't they just get rid of the filibuster? Because they need all 50 Democrats to vote that way, and one Democratic Senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, is adamant that he will never vote to get rid of the filibuster.
What does this mean? It means that Mitch McConnell is blocking major legislation from being passed, and Joe Manchin is preventing the Democrats from doing anything about it.
As much as this sounds like some "inside baseball" problem, it is actually one of the biggest stories in Washington, now and into the future. The House can pass whatever it wants, and the Senate can schedule a vote on it (before, McConnell wouldn't even bring things up for a vote), but most of it won't ever pass as long as this impasse remains.
So, if you read one day that the Dems have figured out a way to get rid of the filibuster, you should schedule a big celebration and break out the champagne. Because it will mean, at last, that our federal government can pass bills that actually make a positive difference.
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