Instead of nuking the filibuster, Senate plays ridiculous games to keep government functioning
newsdepo.com
The threat of having to spend a weekend together was enough to get the Senate to reach an agreement on on government funding, and it won’t be shutting down Friday at midnight. The Senate passed the continuing resolution to fund government through Feb.&Instead of nuking the filibuster, Senate plays ridiculous games to keep government functioning
The threat of having to spend a weekend together was enough to get the Senate to reach an agreement on on government funding, and it won’t be shutting down Friday at midnight. The Senate passed the continuing resolution to fund government through Feb. 18 Thursday evening, 69-28. That’s despite the efforts of Senate Republican extremists to shut it down over vaccine mandates on private companies. The likely suspects—Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas), and Roger Marshall (Kansas)—insisted on a simple majority amendment vote to strip funding for President Joe Biden’s mandate. They were encouraged by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who held out the possibility that he would vote with them. That meant it was within the realm of possibility that it got 51 votes despite the fact that it would end up shutting down government because the House, which passed the bill earlier in the day on a 221-212 vote, would never pass it with that amendment. The big majority of Republicans were not at all interested in being responsible for another shutdown. The assholes, however, could block a vote indefinitely until they got their amendment. The solution Republican leaders came up with was at once ingenious and cowardly: two of their members decided that they had out-of-town obligations they just couldn’t miss. With no chance of the amendment getting 51 votes, they could have the amendment vote. It failed 48-50. Manchin didn’t vote for it after all. Of course. The bill continues existing funding levels—set in 2020 with Trump administration numbers—with the addition of $7 billion in emergency funds to assist Afghanistan evacuees. It also has $1.6 billion in new funding to help children who crossed the border unaccompanied and are in U.S. custody. Read more