Thanks to a Republican vote to stop California from setting its own auto emissions, Democrats can challenge virtually any Trump administration action, and eat up time on the Senate floor.
And once again, they will snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory.
I asked Phillips on Monday whether he had gotten any feedback from Democrats in Washington about his idea. He hadn’t. But we know they’re aware of it; they have said it out loud. They could start the campaign any day now.
Let me know when they start on that, thanks. If we’re relying on Schumer for this, it’s going to be a long wait.
Schumer loves to grandstand, so I’m sure he’ll give a long speech explaining why Democrats need to stop Trump at all costs… right after he’s voted to end debate on the bill.
I appreciate it. I almost got my hopes up.
Just wait till he gets back from his book tour!
Then it’s, ON!
if we are relying on schumer or pelosi then there is no need to wait. they are more pathetic & cravens than a lot of republicans.
When you fuck around with the Democrats, they find out about it and do absolutely nothing.
we cant stoop to their level, and do stuff.
Perhaps we can don some African attire and kneel in the rotunda. Did that help?
Can’t wait for them to not use it.
Democrats only obstruct left.
If they stop it, what will they run on in 2028?
It’s refreshing in a way that we no longer have to spend much time thinking about the Senate parliamentarian, the shadowy figure whose rulings supposedly decide what the chamber can and cannot do. Republicans put that to bed last week by overruling the parliamentarian over whether a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution could nullify the Environmental Protection Agency’s waiver allowing California to set its own air pollution standards on vehicles.
Oh, you mean the thing we were pissed off that the Dems didn’t do? Repubs did it, no problem? Oh, wow.
For this reason, Democrats could subject the Senate to time-consuming resolution votes repeatedly, to such a degree that the Senate would not have time to do anything else for the rest of this session of Congress. In other words, Democrats could respond to the waiver vote by paralyzing the Senate, and stopping the giant Trump tax bill from ever reaching the floor.
Georgia State University assistant professor and former House Oversight Committee staffer Todd Phillips laid this out in a Prospect piece earlier this month. Any 30 senators can force a CRA resolution onto the floor, with a required ten hours of debate time. These resolutions would need the president’s signature, and nearly all of them wouldn’t even get the Republican votes necessary to pass the Senate. But according to Senate procedure, they have to be dealt with if enough senators force them onto the floor. They must be debated and voted upon ahead of other Senate business if brought up for consideration. This means that Democrats can tie up the Senate floor for upwards of ten hours with any single CRA resolution.
Let me save you the suspense. They won’t do it. Repubs are willing to break the system to get what they want. Dems want decorum. This is why we’re completely fucked.
You are right, they won’t do it. Dems not an actual opposition party. Half of them want the same exact thing as the magas, and the other half want to let the magas break everything just to prove a point.
Dems don’t have to lie, cheat, and steal like the Republicans to win, they just have to play Hard Ball, and force the MAGA Nazis to follow the laws, established rules, and the Constitution, without exception.
Malicious Compliance is a perfectly acceptable and ethical form of resistance, and Dems should be using it at every single opportunity.
If your opponent is cheating and you can’t stop them, then they’re not cheating and those are just the rules. If you don’t use those rules, you will lose.
they just have to play Hard Ball, and force the MAGA Nazis to follow the laws, established rules, and the Constitution, without exception.
Oh, we’re fucked then.
Yet they won’t. This is why I have no faith in them.
They “could” do something…but we all know they aren’t going to.
The Democrats need to stop waiting for the perfect pitch and swing the fucking bat.
Okay, but what if they actually hit the ball?
Then they’d have to start running around the bases. People would be cheering and yelling. They’d have to avoid getting tagged out, which is very difficult and complicated. The other team might find it rude of them to score a point.
Really, you don’t understand what hitting the ball involves. You’re not being practical. This is a very complicated game and the professions know the opportune time to swing the bat. Just trust the system. Chuck Schumer is one of the winningest coaches in baseball. If you’re criticizing his play style, you probably were rooting for Russia anyway.
You know, it’s not even about hitting the ball. Hitting the ball is great and all, but that’s not fair to the other team. What if they weren’t ready? This is about sportsmanship! It’s about being the bigger person! And most importantly, it’s about the players. Chuckie needs a new glove, and nothing inspires other people to buy girl-scout cookies more than knowing they can make a difference to help the runner-up win the next championship tournament.
and if we hit the ball now, what if they hit the ball next time???
its all complicated until its the rich or israel at risk. scum schumer will put the bat up their ass if trump tries to stop israel from murdering infants. but the dnc voters can make do with hope and prayers to not get kidnapped by ice.
To all of the people here saying Democrats won’t use this, I agree. However, we should push them to use it, and we should spread awareness of it. Anytime a Democrat says “what can we do? we’re in the minority!” someone should answer with this. We should shame them into using this; we should insist that they use this.
Oh, they’ll start using it. As soon as they get a majority and have progressive legislation that they ran on to block.
The only hope currently (within the governmental realm) is to
line up behindgang up on these dumb donkeys and push them with all of our might.dumb donkeys
You attribute to stupidity what is more reasonably explained with malice.
No lol we support a different party.
If Democrats want votes they can start acting like it.
I’m not going to do their fucking jobs for them, i have my own job i have to worry about.
I think you’re reading too much into the “line up” part of my post. I should’ve wrote gang up, as I do not intend to indicate that you or I need to align with them.
What you are saying is that we tell out representatives what we want.
We have been doing that the whole time, they ignore their voters.
The American population generally speaking is not politically engaged. They have the idea – one you appear to share – that civic engagement is a chore that they don’t have time for and that it’s someone else’s job.
So, continue doing nothing and pretending you’ve tried everything.
That’s a deliberate feature. Keep people so concerned about basic survival that they don’t have the time or energy for civic engagement.
Yeah, tried that with the genocide supporters last year. They’re still getting the only policy any centrist has ever wanted, only now they’re blaming anyone who didn’t spend all of 2024 publicly masturbating to dead Palestinian children.
That’s not really the same thing, and anyway what’s the alternative? Sit around and whine post about it?
and anyway what’s the alternative?
All the Internet talk about revolution it seems to me amounts to diddly squat.
You guys are right and I’m wrong obviously. All of the right-wing Internet talk about revolution culminated in the January 6th insurrection.
Every time they say this, we should bring up every time Republicans were in their position and slung shit around until they got their way. They really need to squirm every time they claim they’re powerless. Might be tough though since they show no capacity for shame
Never gonna happen.
Sure, they should try, but it’s silly to think that this would actually work. The Senate parliamentarian will rule that it doesn’t meet the requirements (and would be correct) and the republican majority won’t vote to override. Attempt quashed and it wouldn’t even be a news story just being a procedural thing.
I know, it’s unfair and that “they set a precedent” and all of that, but if your strategy requires that republicans not be abject opportunistic hypocrites, then it’s almost certain to fail.
Parliamentarians rule on all precedent including recent ones. Analogously, the threshold for filibustering cabinet nominees was only lowered to 51 in the early 2010s by simply overruling the decision of the chair. And you don’t even need a separate overrule motion to overrule the parliamentarian. You just have to not respond. 10 hours of required debate is 10 hours of required debate.
Fair point since rhe overrule would now be precedent. So, a republican objects since this is inappropriate, the parliamentarian deems that the precedent allows the Democratic motion, republicans overrule the parliamentarian, and the strategy is quashed.
Extra steps, sure, but since republicans don’t care about norms or hypocrisy, they wouldn’t even blink at such a move.
The only way that it works is if enough republicans don’t really want to pass the bill. Then, this might give them an out. It wouldn’t work otherwise.
That said, no reason not to make them do the extra work.
Narrators voice: but they won’t
Nah, they’re gonna break out ol’ reliable…
A strongly worded letter!
You never know, they might write little messages on the backs of small pieces of paper and hold them feebly up if they are upset enough.
But what about one of those spicy non-binding resolutions? 😘🥵
Okay everyone, let’s shout it together, “Do it!”
It’s refreshing in a way that we no longer have to spend much time thinking about the Senate parliamentarian, the shadowy figure whose rulings supposedly decide what the chamber can and cannot do. Republicans put that to bed last week by overruling the parliamentarian over whether a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution could nullify the Environmental Protection Agency’s waiver allowing California to set its own air pollution standards on vehicles.
California was given authority in a carve-out to the Clean Air Act in 1970 to set higher emissions standards than the national rules, with the EPA subsequently granting waivers more than 100 times. The state was prepared to use its latest waiver to effectively ban gas-powered auto sales by 2035. But the Senate voted 51-to-44 last week to cancel that waiver, as well as two other waivers to tighten emission rules on diesel trucks and allow zero-emission trucks on the road. The House had already voted for the resolution, so it can now be signed by President Trump.
