Teacher don't you fill me up with your rules....
everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in school
A lot of people think or claim to think that a Senate rule, “the filibuster”, is the only thing stopping Congress from enacting the progressive agenda. But people, I am here to tell you that the filibuster isn’t the problem. The main problem (or blessing if you don’t like the progressive agenda) is that all Democrats are not the same! This basic fact seems to be conveniently overlooked by the Twitterati as they inveigh against the unfairness of needing 10 republicans to pass anything.
The organization Progressive Punch gives 27 Democratic Senators an “A” grade on progressivism. And they also give out 8 grades of “F” to Democratic Senators (and Independent Angus King who nonetheless is one of the 50 presumed democratic votes).
In reality, Jon Tester, Mark Warner, Karen Sinema, and Joe Manchin are closer to Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski on several parts of the progressive agenda than they are to Alex Padilla or Ed Markey.
The basic irrelevance of the filibuster becomes clearer when we look at places where the filibuster doesn’t apply, specifically reconciliation bills. The $15 minimum wage, though stricken by the Senate Parliamentarian, didn’t have 50 votes anyway. In fact, when it was later added as an amendment to a Corona virus relief bill (not even joking, amendments don’t have to be “germane” in the Senate) it only got 42 votes! The current $3.5 trillion bill going through reconciliation does not appear to have 50 votes, even though the infrastructure bill is being “held hostage” to put pressure on non-progressives to vote yes.
Now look, if there were 51 Senators with an A grade from Progressive Punch and the progressive agenda wasn’t being enacted, then the “it’s the damn filibuster” crowd would have a point. Of course, at that point, I think the filibuster would be long gone.
Another way of saying all this is that there aren’t 50 votes in the Senate to eliminate the filibuster!
The filibuster is valuable to some Democrats because they can hide behind it rather than having to constantly vote against the progressive agenda. Note that we hear dissent from Manchin mostly come reconciliation time. It’s also good for progressive Senators as they can attack the filibuster instead of a fellow Democrat, and can use it as a reason for why their agenda is not passing.
But don’t be deceived. The reason the progressive agenda is not being passed is because there are not 51 votes for many parts of it in the Senate, not because of a Senate rule called the filibuster. They really should call it the fili-bluster! That way maybe even Robert Reich could figure this out.
Finally, if the progressive movement wants to target a rule or institution that is blocking their agenda, the best candidate would be the Senate itself.