The progressive left tries to get their way by breaking the rules whenever they don't like something. Several times throughout Joe Biden's tenure as president, it has occurred. The U.S. Senate has a procedure wherein it can win approval with a simple majority.
It's known as "reconciliation." It's a procedure that has been applied about twenty times since the middle of the 1970s. Budget reconciliation is a tactic that aids the party in power in getting around the filibuster restriction. The frequency and application of the tool are, nevertheless, strictly regulated by the rules.
Ideological zealots can't just use the legislative process to pass any old piece of law they like. It actually protects our country from a complete breakdown of good judgment. The Senate needs a 60-vote majority to approve legislation without utilizing reconciliation.
Unless the party in control of the senate has these 60 votes, they cannot ramrod legislation through. It’s a mechanism designed to maintain the all-important minority voice. It works. But since there is a 50/50 split in the U.S. Senate, radical progressives are having problems.
There aren’t enough votes to pass much of Joe Biden’s radical agenda, an agenda that’s driving America towards big government socialism. Nevertheless, there are other key parts of the governing process that must overcome the filibuster rule as well.
One of those involves the recently overturned Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. The far-left is livid that one of their signature talking points is now being handed back to the States. The court made the correct decision. This is where abortion laws should have been all along.
Nevertheless, it’s not the narrative the radical left wants to hear. So, what do they do? Threaten to blow up decades of U.S. Senate procedure to cram their legislation through. They do not care that a majority of Americans want some type of abortion restriction in their laws.
Democrats want free and open abortions all the way up to conception. But to do that, they need to pass federal legislation that codifies Roe v. Wade. They don’t have near the 60 votes to accomplish this unpopular move.
The only way to achieve this objective is to end the filibuster. But that would take a pair of moderate Democrats to break with their commitments. Neither West Virginia’s Joe Manchin nor Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema will do that. Both are standing their ground.
But there are others from the extreme left who are proposing even more drastic measures. The Nut from New York, squad member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, suggests that America needs to abolish the Supreme Court.
That’s a really intelligent idea. Blow up one-third of our three-branch form of government that’s proven the most successful form of democratic rule in world history. AOC is a real smart one. On the contrary, she’s a buffoon. This isn’t going to happen, despite the ravings of a lunatic.
But there is the possibility of suspending the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade. That’s where Sinema and Manchin come in. They would have to vote with the majority, Kamala Harris breaking the 50-50 tie, to suspend the filibuster temporarily.
However, each has said publicly that they will not. They have both stood steadfast. Manchin’s office told the Daily Mail that his position has not changed. Sinema’s stance has not changed since the eventual ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked.
Over a month ago, Sinema’s office said in a statement, “Protections in the Senate safeguarding against the erosion of women’s access to health care have been used half a dozen times in the past ten years, and are more important now than ever.”
The filibuster isn’t going anywhere. What that means is that Joe Biden can blow all the hot air he wants, but nothing is going to change. He can slam the podium like a spoiled brat. He can raise his voice in fictitious anger. It’s all a charade.
But Biden and his radical left are not going to convince these two common-sense senators to change their minds. In some respects, we wonder if Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema would warrant some kind of medal. A medal to signify how their prudence is saving America.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
