The =?UTF-8?B?8J+HuvCfh7g=?= Filibuster
From
Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to
nz.general,alt.politics.trump on Sat Nov 8 05:53:32 2025
From Newsgroup: nz.general
This Government shutdown in the USA is the consequence of a political
impasse, the conditions for which are unique to the Dumbfuckistani
political system.
The Republican party (TrumprCOs party) has a majority in both houses of Congress, so yourCOd think it should be able to pass whatever laws it likes. But it has less than 60 members in the 100-member Senate, the upper house. This majority-but-not-enough-of-a-majority means that Senators belonging
to the opposition Democrat party can indefinitely delay the passing of legislation that they donrCOt like by resorting to a rCLfilibusterrCY -- a speech that goes on for hours, days ... as long as necessary, until the
other party gives up. It would take 60 votes to bring an end to a
filibuster, and the Republicans on their own cannot do it.
As the controlling party, the Republicans have the power to change the
Senate rules to get rid of the filibuster. But theyrCOre terrified that, if/ when the Democrats gain power, they will then be able to pass legislation
that the Republicans cannot stop by their use, in turn, of the same
delaying tactic.
As far as checks and balances on the unbridled exercise of power go, this
has to be considered scraping the bottom of the barrel ...
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