Aside from the odd punctuation -- why is \"TAX CUTS\" capitalized?? -- the message is simple: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should change the rules of the Senate to eliminate the filibuster on legislation. What that would mean in practical terms is that any debate on a bill could be ended by a simple majority vote and then the legislation could be passed -- or voted down -- with a simple majority. <\/p>\n
Let's start here: Getting rid of the legislative filibuster would make the way the Senate works entirely indistinguishable from the way the House works. <\/p>\n
The House is -- and was designed to be -- a majority-rule entity. From its founding in Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution, which establishes that members of the House must stand for new terms every two years, the whole idea was that the House was the direct voice of the people -- reflecting what they wanted at a given time. <\/p>\n
That same Constitution -- you may have heard of it -- established six-year terms for senators, an attempt to differentiate it from the House and create the idea of the Senate as a more deliberate institution. <\/p>\n
Now, put the history aside for a minute. Trump's tweet is also wrong on the specifics of the two pieces of legislation -- health care and tax reform -- he is insisting would pass the Senate if not for its 60-vote rule. <\/p>\n
Which means that, for all intents and purposes, the change Trump is insisting the Senate make is already governing the two pieces of legislation he is tweeting about. <\/p>\n
Donald Trump is either blithely unaware of these things or simply doesn't care. He is and always has been someone who believes that he makes the rules while other people follow them. And, if they don't suit him -- if it's a bad deal, say -- he either adjust the rules or walks away from them. <\/p>\n
In Trump's mind, he's the President so everyone -- the Senate included -- should be doing what he says and passing the legislation he wants passed. <\/p>\n
Which, of course, is a gross misunderstanding of the separation of powers, the history of the Senate and the current legislative processes governing tax reform and the American Health Care Act. <\/p>\n
Many people know that. Donald Trump doesn't seem to be one of them. <\/p>\n
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Read more: <\/p>\n
Donald Trump doesn't seem to understand how the Senate works - CNN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aside from the odd punctuation -- why is \"TAX CUTS\" capitalized?? -- the message is simple: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should change the rules of the Senate to eliminate the filibuster on legislation. What that would mean in practical terms is that any debate on a bill could be ended by a simple majority vote and then the legislation could be passed -- or voted down -- with a simple majority. Continue reading