At midnight tonight, tens of thousands of people will lose their unemployment and COBRA benefits because the Senate failed to pass an extension to those benefits. The main reason for this failure is a filibuster, led by Senator Jim Bunning and, as David Dayen reports, quietly supported by a few other Republican Senators.
Using Senate procedure to cut off unemployment benefits to 1.2 million people is a reprehensible move. It is also a political move that will do real damage to Democrats. Here is a flow chart I drew up to illustrate the problem:
With the country unhappy, most voters will blame national problems on the current governing party: Democrats. Additionally, the country does not understand, or really care about, Senate procedure such as the filibuster. As such, a handful of Republican Senators can, if they are feeling sufficiently spiteful and / or Machiavellian, use arcane Senate procedure to cut off unemployment insurance to over one million Americans, and actually get Democrats blamed for it.
Faced with this sort of opposition, the only non-suicidal response from the governing party is to change the Senate rules. Given how much is at stake, and how many people are suffering, none of us should give a flying gastro-rectal event about a couple of negative news cycles, and / or bizarre arguments about the need for a "deliberative" governing body.
Change. The. Rules. If you are with me, sign up to Open Left's email list. We will be taking regular action on this over the next ten months.
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