What a Defiant Democratic Party Looks Like
Their leaders’ timidity has failed to limit Republican extremism. So it will cost them nothing to fight tooth and nail against McConnell’s latest plot.
So what would Democrats, unrestrained, look like?
Let’s start with the Senate. Although Democrats may not hold the majority, they are not without options. There are scant legislative days left in the year, let alone prior to the election. And if Democratic candidate Mark Kelly wins the Arizona special election (as he is currently favored to do), Mitch McConnell’s window of opportunity may close on November 30. As others have detailed, Democratic senators can use a full arsenal of procedural tricks to gum up the Senate’s gears just at a moment when Republicans need things to run smoothly.
By continuously objecting to unanimous consent and forcing Senate Republicans to pull together a 51-vote quorum to conduct any business, Democrats can significantly slow operations. While campaigns are ongoing, this has the added benefit of pulling Republican senators off the campaign trail. With more Republican incumbents facing competitive challenges, this will have an uneven—dare we say partisan—effect. This mustn’t scare Democrats off.
As Senate Democrats reduce the volume of business that can make it through the chamber on any given day, Democrats in the House can be using their hard-earned majority to lengthen the list of demands on the Senate’s dwindling time. Namely, they can send an unending stream of articles of impeachment the Senate’s way to keep the chamber busy from here until January 3. God knows, there are no shortage of targets worthy of the honor.
Impeachment trials are privileged, meaning McConnell can’t simply ignore them the way he does House messaging bills. This does not mean that he can’t find workarounds. There is, for example, no prescribed minimum length of time that an impeachment trial must last, beyond what is necessary to perform the official motions: opening arguments, presentation of evidence, closing arguments, and voting. The process, in other words, can be rushed.
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https://newrepublic.com/article/159464/democrats-fight-mcconnell-ginsburg?fbclid=IwAR2r36iiK9Xtaduc9ctV-1KEs3o2mqVU9dxZRWK6pCQq-dffjy69H6vd3rw
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[link:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/schumer-invokes-rule-to-block-senate-committee-hearings/|]
The longer Democrats keep the vunerable Republican Senators tied up in DC , the more time it takes them away from the campaign trail. Challengers can blast them with rebuttals....it will have them in knots.
Graham is hamstringed because he chair a committee. 