Rule allows minority party to block legislation, but GOP is reluctant to scrap it as they could lose majority

Rule allows minority party to block legislation, but GOP is reluctant to scrap it as they could lose majority

Donald Trump has floated the idea of ending the filibuster – a procedural technique in Congress that allows a minority of senators to block legislation from passing – which would make pushing through his political agenda in 2026 much easier.

In an interview with Politico, Trump urged Republicans in the Senate to scrap the filibuster, saying it had become an obstacle to effective governing and removing it would prevent another government shutdown and pave the way for his party to push through its legislative priorities.

Scraping the arcane-sounding legislative device is sometimes favored by the party with a majority in the Senate, but opposed by the other because it allows them to use their minority status to block legislation from passing

Senators typically back off from proposals to end it, because they don’t want to get steamrolled by a simple majority when the balance of power shifts again. Centrists in both parties typically oppose ending the filibuster as a way to defend against partisan political excesses.

  • Typhoon@lemmy.ca
    33·
    14 hours ago

    Why do Americans always jump to guns and shooting the place up? The next step to a disagreement with the government is hard protest, strikes, disruptions and disobedience. You either sit there doing nothing and whining that you don’t like it or you think you have to go on a murder rampage. Neither of those are appropriate, but it does explain why there are so many mass shootings. You’re brainwashed by your movies and media to think that’s the next logical step.

    Protest. ACTUAL protest. Not two No Kings parades in 11 months. Sustained pressure on the government is the way forward. Put down your guns and do what the rest of the world does.

    • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      9 hours ago

      Strikes require a strike fund or they fizzle once the strikers run out of savings, and who has savings these days? There’s already a general strike ready to trigger once enough people commit.

      Protests take time to organize. More frequent protests will be much smaller, and therefore easily ignored.

      It turns out, organizing millions of people takes a substantial amount of time, effort, and resources.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
      6·
      13 hours ago

      We are protesting. There are continuous protests at ICE facilities all over the US. I personally have been going to the one in Otay Mesa. I can’t go every day, but I’m there at least 3 days a week, and I managed 5 days a week over the holidays. The media isn’t covering them. They are also severely undercounting the large protests.