Why does Schumer have to "share power" with McTurtle?

[StarfishSaver]

2. It's not a choice. It's a fact.

Last edited Fri Jan 22, 2021, 03:58 PM - Edit history (1)

They already share power. The Senate is divided 50-50 with the VP as the tiebreaker on floor votes. They now have to work out how things will run.

Some people here think Dems should just ram through everything with Kamala as a tiebreaker, but that is extraordinarily unrealistic for several reasons:

1. There's no guarantee that all 50 Democratic senators will vote together on everything.

2. It's completely unworkable for there to be this kind of struggle over every single measure that comes up on a given day - nothing would ever get done.

3. While Vice President Harris will certainly step in on important measures, she can't spend all of her time presiding over the Senate casting tie votes. She has a day job.

4. The 50/50 breakdown does not automatically give Democrats control of committees. Under Senate rules, measures getting a tie vote do not come out of committee. Without any agreement pretty much everything would get stuck in committee on tie votes

5. It doesn't take a majority to screw everything up. McConnell can obstruct till the end of time from the minority. Democrats need to work out rules and processes with him in order to avoid that.