Wednesday afternoon it was confirmed that Democrat Jon Ossoff had won his race against Republican David Purdue in one of the two Georgia U.S. Senate runoff elections. It had earlier been confirmed that Kelly Loeffler had lost her race to Raphael Warnock, a self-proclaimed Marxist and apparent anti-Semite. This leaves the Senate chamber in a […]
Wednesday afternoon it was confirmed that Democrat Jon Ossoff had won his race against Republican David Purdue in one of the two Georgia U.S. Senate runoff elections. It had earlier been confirmed that Kelly Loeffler had lost her race to Raphael Warnock, a self-proclaimed Marxist and apparent anti-Semite.
This leaves the Senate chamber in a 50-50 tie in terms of membership meaning that Democrats will control the chamber. Constitutionally, the Vice President serves as President of the Senate and casts the deciding vote in the event of a tie. This means that Kamala Harris will soon give the now-clearly socialist party a 51-50 edge in votes.
One of the most notable consequences of a Democratic Senate is the likelihood that its members will try to eliminate the Senate cloture rule, a tradition that requires 60 Senators to agree to move to a vote before a legislative debate can end. This rule lends itself to what is commonly known as the Senate filibuster.
Aside from formally changing Senate Rule 22, a move that would likely be filibustered itself, a Senate majority has the "nuclear option" of creating new precedent to end debate, something that has been done in both 2013 and 2017 on nominations.
Other, less drastic, attempts to chip away at the filibuster could include making a strategic change to the Byrd Rule, a policy preventing budget reconciliation bills from being stuffed with non-budget related matters by the majority. Currently, the rule requires 60 votes to be waived.
Control of both the House and Senate, as well as the Presidency offer the Democratic party a unique opportunity to attack the filibuster. While many argue it is unlikely to manifest, many Democrat politicians and and socialist activists are already professing their support for such an effort.
