(April 14, 2018 at 6:44 am)alpha male Wrote:(April 13, 2018 at 5:12 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Unless I'm mistaken, they would need 60 Senators for such a bill to be filibuster proof, and even then, they can't afford to lose a single Senator. The Democratic Party is more united than the Republican party, but it's not that united.
Getting any legislation passed is difficult. Even when the Dems had 60 Senators and passed Obamacare, they had to bend over backwards to insurance companies and Republicans while the bill was being written, as well as the more right-wing members of their own party. The final Obamacare bill was a watered down version of the original as a result.
The Republicans just got a tax bill passed with nowhere near 60 seats in the senate. It can be done. Further, a serious attempt, if blocked by the Republicans, shows that there really is a significant difference between the two on taxes and gives me reason to consider voting Dem. Then they might get the 60 seats.
That was a tax cut and it used the process of reconciliation which eliminates the filibuster. As far as I am aware, there are only certain legislative items that qualify for reconciliation. I’m not certain you can use it to increase taxes. It’s a weird Senate rule.
