Power Sharing Deal Struck!

[Gomez Adams]

No details on the deal, which sort of scares me, but at least now democrats will be taking over the committees and start moving things forward.

Senate power sharing agreement reached, source says

A deal has been reached in the Senate in principle on a power-sharing agreement that had precluded Democrats from taking control of the committees, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday morning.

www.cnn.com

 

[Zeedox]

Interesting.

Offhand, can a filibuster actually stop legislation or does it just slow things down?

 

[Gomez Adams]

Interesting.

Offhand, can a filibuster actually stop legislation or does it just slow things down?

It depends.

Normally, it's a delaying tactic. When they call for a floor vote in some cases, there's only a certain amount of time that can go by before the vote is declared null and void.

So what you do is talk about the legislation being voted on for hours on end in order to run out the clock on that amount of time. It's a stupid Jim Crow era tactic that long ago outlived any usefulness.

 

[Zeedox]

I can see it's usefulness if you're locked out of legislative decisions due to majority numbers against you (i.e. current republicans).

The real question is will it really remain a reality, in the future, if the republicans get a majority and lose a vote to a filibuster? Current republican thinking has been do as I say not as I do.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Current republican thinking has been do as I say not as I do.

It's been that way since the Bush administration.

Even now with Biden trying to work with them they walk in, throw down a plan they know won't work, say "our way or the highway" and walk out playing the victim when Biden says no.