A few quick thoughts on this: it's fine. If Dems control the floor and gavels, and ties in committees advance bills or nominations to the floor, those are the powers that come with majority control. Lacking clear majorities on committees might test party unity, but seldomly.
"Power-sharing" is an overstatement. The functional reality of the Senate will not be noticeably different under this than it'd be if Democrats had a bigger majority. The only significant difference is that committees will be evenly divided, but if ties go to Dems, that's fine.
How this works: the Senate has to approve an organizing resolution that sets committee sizes and membership. Under current Senate rules, that resolution needs 60 votes to pass. There's, er, some debate about whether the Senate should go nuclear to abolish the 60-vote threshold...
The Senate must (and I think will) abolish the 60-vote threshold in the short-to-medium term. But even I think it's unrealistic to go nuclear on the organizing resolution for two main reasons: First, the functional difference in the Senate's daily operation is not major (^^^).
Second, the votes will be there for reforming the filibuster if (or rather when) it becomes clear that Republican obstruction is blocking major Democratic priorities. I believe that is inevitable sooner rather than later. But it's not going to happen on the organizing resolution.
Yes. You could argue Dems didn't improve on that deal. But you still need 60 and Rs are more entrenched than ever. As I said upthread, I'm 110% for getting rid of the 60 vote threshold and happy to push leadership. But that's just not happening here.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Adam Jentleson 🎈

Adam Jentleson 🎈 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AJentleson

7 Jan
Hawley is likely to emerge with the political upper hand from today, and it’s important to be clear-eyed about that. Elite opinion may pile on him for a while. But by this time next year his GOP colleagues will be begging him to do fundraising events for them.
Republican voters embraced Trump from the moment he set foot in the 2016 primary. They stayed loyal to him for four years and turned out in record numbers for him in 2020. There’s simply not much basis for thinking they will now reject the approach of folks like Hawley.
Folks having a strong reaction should remember that they’re probably not the ones Hawley is appealing to. After the violence, 138 Republicans took stock and decided it was still in their interests to stick with Hawley. He wants to be a hero to the right. Seems to be working.
Read 10 tweets
30 Dec 20
Yup. Before the filibuster emerged in the mid-19th century, the chair could simply end debate when they thought senators had become dilatory, by ruling them out of order.(Relatedly, the idea that the Framers wanted Senate debate to be unlimited is a myth.)
Before he was a senator, John C. Calhoun was Adams' VP and presided over the Senate as Chair. Calhoun hated Adams because of his "corrupt bargain" with Clay. At the time, it was standard practice for the Chair to rule dilatory senators out of order. But one day...
... a senator was on the floor assailing Adams. Normally, the Chair would rule him out of order. But Calhoun was presiding, and in bitterness to Adams, he let the senator go on. This shocked senators, set a new precedent and nudged the door open to the obstruction we know today.
Read 4 tweets
29 Dec 20
Re-upping. If Trump wants to, he could ask Pence to preside and recognize a senator who is willing to bring up the House-passed bill raising checks to $2K. The VP is president of the Senate, can preside and is free to recognize any senator. How about it, @realDonaldTrump ?
Unlike in the House, the Senate Leader’s power to set the agenda is statutorily weak, based on tradition & precedent not rules. The Garner precedent gives the Leader priority recognition but it’s not a rule. The presider (aka Pence) can ignore it and recognize whoever they want.
Yes it is! Ultimately it comes down to whether the bill has the votes, because the end result of the maneuver is just to get the bill a vote. But for bills like the $2k/CASH Act that McConnell is not brining up precisely because he fears they might pass, this could come in handy.
Read 5 tweets
24 Dec 20
McConnell wants folks to think the $2k bill is doomed in the Senate but he’s really trying to avoid a vote that puts Perdue/Loeffler in a bind and might split his conference. Trump’s the X factor but if he backs it, there’ll be huge pressure on McConnell to bring it to the floor.
Actually, there is! If @realDonaldTrump is feeling as vengeful toward McConnell as reports suggest, he should read @jiwallner (no raging lefty) on how the Senate Majority Leader’s power to set the agenda is statutorily weak, based more on habit than rules.
Trump is probably just being a chaos machine. But if he actually wants the checks he can have Pence preside (VP is the president of the Senate) and give floor recognition to someone who’ll bring up the House $2k bill. If Trump won’t use this power, it confirms he’s just bluffing.
Read 4 tweets
23 Dec 20
A quick procedural word about unanimous consent (UC) agreements since we might hear a lot about them in the next few days: a single objection from any member blocks them (hence “unanimous”). On the hill, there’s a term for bringing up UCs you know are likely to fail: UC practice.
The beauty of UCs is that they can be very fast: even in the Senate, if a member asks to pass a Bill by UC and no one objects, it passes, just like that. Doesn’t matter how big or small or on what topic, the bill is passed. The downside of course is that one objection blocks it.
Before a bill is brought up by UC, leadership runs a “hotline” which is a caucus-wide canvass (usually over email) to see if anyone has an objection. By the time a bill is brought to the floor by UC, leadership knows whether it’ll pass or fail based on feedback from the hotline.
Read 7 tweets
21 Dec 20
Democrats should not take a victory lap on this bill. It provides less than a third of the aid economists say is necessary and McConnell is getting all the credit- after blocking aid for months. Instead we should explain why this bill is inadequate and how Dems will deliver more.
Dems got out-maneuvered. Failing to secure state/local aid means the bill comes in ~$300B below what was achievable, with harsh consequences. Politically, McConnell is getting all the credit. Embracing the bill undercuts Warnock and Ossoff by validating McConnell’s victory lap.
Vote yes, say it’s crap. This bill may be better than nothing, but it’s a slap in the face to working Americans who are getting hosed while corporations rake in record profits. Hang its inadequacy around Trump and McConnell and hammer home that Dems want to deliver more.
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!