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Showing posts from May 28, 2017

Donald Trump doesn't seem to understand how the Senate works

President Donald Trump has never been in politics before. (You may have heard that a time or two over the last 18 months.) And he's not terribly interested in learning the ways in which Washington works. The latest evidence came Tuesday morning via  this presidential tweet : "The U.S. Senate should switch to 51 votes, immediately, and get Healthcare and TAX CUTS approved, fast and easy. Dems would do it, no doubt!" 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. It's the legislative equivalent of what Republicans and Democrats have done over the past four years when it comes to Cab...