From: Ryan Grim <badnews@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2021 8:29 PM
To: miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Which will go first, Cuomo or the filibuster?
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JzdGFjay5jb20iLCJwIjozMzY4MT>
Might be the filibuster
Which will go first, Cuomo or the filibuster?
Might be the filibuster
<https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkE1uxCAMhU8z7CbCQAgsWHTTa0T8OBnUBCJCps
rtS5puKlmWZT3r-X3eVpxzOc2W90quNtZzQ5Pwe1-wVizk2LGMMRjZa0o1CUYEUL0icR-ngrjauJ
haDiTb4ZbobY05XXoYAMjLcClBy8CECxPV1kk3cM4l8-gCVVLdpvYIEZNHg28sZ05IFvOqddsf_O
PBPls5G66nuv1we7X-q_N5besN87ZgG5gCSuWznDY95xJXEg2jDCgHQYEpoTvotNPeCdDUak8d01
JzNVgG0HMxyZ4-BF1n9s-CFLPGEu36bv_FJshbzWmJCbuE9co8NtV6pFjPEZN1C4YbR72Z_gIaZ0
xYGusw2mpAQi9Vz7kYBrjzN14NigLemDX7kNtVMn-ZfwAWm4v9> Ryan Grim
Mar 14
Progress toward ending the 60-vote stranglehold on the Senate known as the
silent filibuster is happening much faster than even the most optimistic
advocates of reform could have hoped. Last week, Sen. Joe Manchin said he
was open to moving toward a “talking filibuster” that would put the onus on
the minority to actually stay on the Senate floor if they want to obstruct
legislation. As it stands today, a single member, with a single objection,
can stop a bill in its tracks, and it’s the majority’s responsibility to get
60 votes to move it forward. Sen. Jeff Merkley is now in talks with his
colleagues over how exactly the new rules should be written, so that the
minority still has a say, but doesn’t have absolute veto power over the
Democratic agenda. Merkley’s work persuading his colleagues to reform the
filibuster may end up being one of the most consequential, unsung efforts a
single senator ever undertook, and he’s been pushing it for more than 10
years. (
<https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkUuO5CAQRE9T7Noi-diwYDGbuYbFJ12F2gYLcI
_q9pPuklAgoUhF5CP6gc_a3u6sfbBb1vE-0RX813ccAxu7OrY1Jzdry7llyakERhuW-7o1xMPn3Y
12ITuvsOfoR67l9sMCwF7OJAlCyYgAizYaNhN8UNovWi4b6OUT6q-UsUR0-IPtXQuy3b3GOPtD_n
mIv3TGC3OhPhHPMcV60JPgAuji4hZNkjDW0qlMHJi-trzncHWa-epYaFFysOzuKS5BcRBG2QkmG2
wMCiz3NvIg7GylWbwA0FJts-YPxY-nmPoV-vDx-w5nzR25ZX_8UOtMhnqOWvZccCo4bhIruY6r5P
FeKTvsmD6Qxof0L7b1iQUbFUurHw5m0LPRUqplgQ8VoijlbEASSYpPlaaKCz7d3_MfvEWSrA> I
interviewed him last month for my podcast on the history and future of the
filibuster.)
HR1,
<https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkctuxCAMRb9m2E3EIy8WLLrpb0TEODOoCUTgTJ
W_r9NIlm2ha3x1DJ7wlcvp9lxJXGmic0eX8LeuSIRFHBXLFIPrOyulFcG1QY3dKGKdloK4-bg6Kg
eK_ZjXCJ5iTpdeDUqJt9PaSBitGT0gGO760AUEbbp2Ab3AvdQfIWICdPjBcuaEYnVvor0-zNdDf3
PQG2NiP4A7NZA3ftJSKy5SX-nq-N-cKpsBwvB8F_Ws_oNPv2FhY-kZcMtQPJysFdFd89KoVio9tr
ZRjZ0tzK2y0luQs7Y92x68Vqoz7dJ38tHK7aWbesyVPPxcNkRxWyzRbx_2H1mQd8ppjQmbhHQxmV
i1HSnSOWHy84rhxkU383-A0wsTFr5FmDw51auuHztj2mFQNx_maUw_KsNMeX3IPJXc7MN1qD_KO5
bt> the For the People Act, will come before Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s Rules
Committee later this month, and then head for the Senate floor, where it
stands a real chance of passage if the filibuster is reformed, representing
the most far-reaching democracy reform since 1965. The PRO Act, meanwhile,
passed the House this week, and also stands a chance of winning a majority
vote in the Senate. It would be the most sweeping labor rights reform in
several generations, and help grow the ranks of unionized workers. These are
precisely the kinds of structural changes Democrats have failed to make in
the past, but finally recognize as existential in a polarized country where,
absent some reforms to make the system more democratic, Republicans can lose
the popular vote by millions but still win power.
It does appear like the Senate has a real chance to end the filibuster as we
know it today. If it does, bear in mind that would be nothing radical our
outside of Senate precedent. The 60-vote threshold didn’t come into being
until a rules change in 1975 -- which means Joe Biden was already a senator
before today’s filibuster was put into place. And it didn’t start being
deployed in earnest until around 2007. Then it was reformed in 2013 (by
Harry Reid) and reformed again in 2017 (by Mitch McConnell). No reason it
shouldn’t happen again in 2021.
Subscribe now
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6KlyQ> Why is this time different for Cuomo?
Throughout Andrew Cuomo’s tenure, he’s been hit with scandal after scandal,
but has emerged from each unscathed. His fall from grace has been so
stunningly fast it can be hard to make sense of why this time was different
for him. Answering that question is the subject of my latest story for The
Intercept. In short, as the Working Families Party has chipped away at him
over the years and helped elect progressives in place of Cuomo cronies, that
set the stage for the sweeping electoral changes of 2018 and 2020, which
left him exposed.
At a news conference on Friday afternoon, a defiant Cuomo rejected the
weekslong drumbeat of sexual harassment and misconduct allegations. But all
around him, New York politicians at both the state and federal level are
demanding his resignation, with proceedings launched in the state Assembly
that could lead to impeachment.
This time is different because the interlocking system of protection Cuomo
had long constructed around himself has been washed away by twin,
reinforcing political currents: resistance liberals and democratic
socialists, often aligned with either the Working Families Party or
Democratic Socialists of America, or both.
One explanation for Cuomo’s vulnerability has been the removal of Donald
Trump from the public scene, finally making space for news that didn’t
revolve around him to break through. That’s fine as far as it goes, but it
doesn’t explain why this time, unlike all his pre-Trump misdeeds, scandals
are finally sticking to Cuomo.
Now that so many progressive members of the resistance are paying close
attention to New York politics, said one state assembly member who asked not
to be named in order to speak freely, the nature of the harassment
allegations is playing a role. “It’s their political identity to hold people
accountable on this issue,” the member said of the revived Democratic,
anti-Trump voters.
Before Trump’s election, Cuomo had built a unique political system in New
York in which power flowed upward to him. Republicans controlled the state
Senate, significantly thanks to Cuomo, who helped create a renegade band of
Democrats known as the Independent Democratic Conference. The IDC allied
itself in the state Capitol in Albany with Republicans, while Cuomo fended
off insurgent Democrats’ efforts to unseat Republican senators and reclaim
the chamber. The GOP’s control of the upper chamber marginalized the
progressive wing of the Democratic Party, creating an obstacle that could be
cited for the failure to enact the party’s agenda.
The state Assembly, meanwhile, was run by Speaker Carl Heastie, a Cuomo
ally. Cuomo, Heastie, and the GOP Senate leader were known as the “three men
in a room” who made all the decisions that mattered. And of those three,
Cuomo was by far the most powerful, particularly through the control over
the budget New York law gives the governor. Cinching his total control was
his reputation for ruthless revenge against anybody who tested his power.
Because challenging Cuomo had such a small chance of success and such a high
cost, few tried.
Over the years, challenging Cuomo was left to the Working Families Party,
which began electing progressives throughout the state. But their alliance
with organized labor, and Cuomo’s control of the same, kept them inside the
fold, relatively speaking, even as they gave rise to a generation of
operatives and politicians who positioned themselves considerably to Cuomo’s
left.
The election of Trump in 2016 stunned Democratic voters across the country
out of their stupor, and, when they came to, they looked upon the scene in
New York and were appalled at what was before them. Thousands of voters
researched their elected officials and learned to their surprise that the
Democrat they had voted for was in fact openly aligned with Republicans.
With Trump in the White House, that could no longer stand.
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1MZnbtZ4p0zZjcsmH44KIP83-A84oJC98izI4sDNAPU6-UZlAfPsxTqWECxUx5fMjcleziwn2oP-
6KlyQ> FULL STORY
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