Preserving the filibuster and ending the federal shutdown

Normally we stick to state level policy issues only, but with things heating up regarding the federal government shutdown it is worth highlighting a few important facts on the situation.

The filbuster is a Senate rule requiring 60 votes to pass legislation. The filibuster is a good thing because it limits the ability of legislative majorities to pass laws only to have a later majority reverse the law. The following is from our friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. It highlights just SOME recent bad ideas that would have passed in the absence of the filibuster. For starters, with our nation and Congress so narrowly divided it would be easy for Democrats in Washington to add two new “blue” states and also add members to the Supreme Court. Eliminating the filibuster as President Trump wants to do would fundamentally transform our nation in some harmful ways (as the image from The Nation highlights as well).

Of course, Democrats (including New Mexico’s entire delegation) are simply lying when they say that Republicans can reopen the government on their own with only 53 votes. Democrats would LOVE to force the GOP to end the filibuster so they can ram through these and other Democrat priorities when they take over. The crazy thing is that what Republicans are proposing is a “clean” continuing resolution (CR). That essentially means Biden’s last budget. That budget is by no means “conservative,” but it DID NOT include the “enhanced” ObamaCare subsidies that were already set to go away. Democrats have refused to vote for the CR because the GOP has refused to extend those subsidies.  There are plenty of other subsidies for the failed ObamaCare program, but the GOP has been unable to entirely overturn the law.