Why doesn't Bernie Sanders support killing the filibuster, instead of bypassing it in a controversial and possibly illegal manner? ed_kilgore writes
The two progressive friends on the debate stage were hardly peas in a pod on the Senate filibuster. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images For a good portion of last night’s Democratic presidential debate in Houston, friends and usual allies Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were on the same page. Together they defended Medicare for All from criticisms offered by Joe Biden and the moderators. Together they savaged corporate power and political corruption.
These are not new positions for either candidate, but they tell you a lot about their governing theories. Warren has laid out a fairly detailed step-by-step strategy for overcoming Republican obstruction in the Senate — the current system’s key choke point in stopping all sorts of progressive legislation. Finishing the job of killing off the filibuster, which enables 41 Senators to veto anything the majority wants to do, is central to that strategy.
Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough [is] the professional referee who advises the Senate leadership about what can and cannot be included in the “budget reconciliation” bill that is being used by Republicans this year to repeal and replace Obamacare. The key issue is enforcement of the so-called Byrd Rule , which creates a point of order against “non-germane” items in reconciliation bills — i.e., matters that do not directly produce fiscal consequences.
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