This is great news. We previously had Klobuchar as "not ruling it out" on our filibuster reform whip list, but we can officially upgrade her to "for." Full list here: dkel.ec/3gdW4Y5
And here's another great update, thanks to @Tzipshmil. We'd been relying on old comments from Brian Schatz that slotted him into the "unclear" category, but this one is a no-doubter
If reporters are interested in asking Dem senators about filibuster reform, may I suggest inquiring with:
Richard Blumenthal
Ben Cardin
Debbie Stabenow
Catherine Cortez Masto
Maggie Hassan
Bob Menendez
Martin Heinrich
Ron Wyden
Jack Reed
Mark Warner
Maria Cantwell
Tammy Baldwin
Re the tweet above, I've been unable to find clear statements on those senators' stances on filibuster reform. If you've seen anything, please let me know! Full whip list here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
Filibuster reform whip list update: Based on very helpful flags from @Kipmalinosky & @WI_Forward, we're moving Angus King from "against" to "not ruling it out" and Mark Warner from "unclear" to "not ruling it" (just barely) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
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The possibility that Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul could become governor highlights an infirmity in NY law: There's no explicit provision allowing anyone to fill a vacant *LG* spot. The state's highest court let David Paterson do so after a legal fight, but this hole should be plugged
Having no LG is bad b/c if the governorship were to become vacant a second time, the job would fall to the leader of the state Senate, which is a bad & anti-democratic outcome. Had Paterson left office early (which was possible!), Republican Joe Bruno would have become gov
Plus, the court ruling that allowed Paterson to pick a new LG could easily be overturned some day (it only prevailed by a 4-3 majority), and it didn't require a confirmation vote in the legislature, as is the case with other vacancies (current comptroller was elevated this way)
Note that if Republican senators refuse to show up for a quorum call, Democrats can direct the Senate's sargeant at arms to arrest them and compel their attendance. That's how radical a threat withholding quorum is—you can be arrested for doing so crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL…
The quorum requirement (ie, need a majority of members to conduct business) is written into the Constitution. But one medium-term way to alter that calculus would be to admit DC and Puerto Rico as states
The cmte quorum requirements, however, are simply part of Senate rules and can be adjusted as Democrats see fit. When Dems denied quorum to the Judiciary Cmte last year when the GOP rammed the Barrett nomination through, Republicans just changed the rules slate.com/news-and-polit…
NEW: We've obtained a full list of all 212 Democratic House members who are co-sponsoring the articles of impeachment drafted by Reps. David Cicilline, Ted Lieu & Jamie Raskin. Also available at link: dkel.ec/3nCP7TD
Notable names not on the list of impeachment cosponsors:
• Scott Peters
• Ed Perlmutter
• Jim Himes
• Jared Golden
• Ron Kind
Three Biden appointees (Fudge, Haaland & Fudge) are unlikely to speak out. Presumably Pelosi & Hoyer are not on list for leadership reasons
Scott Peters has said he supports impeachment, so his absence is surprising. Jim Himes hasn't directly said so but he's been torching the GOP on Twitter, so not sure what that's about
I think there's a story here for a reporter interested in calling up some of these silent Republicans. The entire GOP loudly opposed last year's impeachment in unison. This time, almost none have spoken up ... and some have are *open* to impeachment
191 House Democrats have spoken out in favor of impeachment
191 House Republicans haven't said a word
A reason more Republicans are not speaking out in FAVOR of impeaching Trump: They're worried about getting murdered. Freshman GOP Rep. Peter Meijer said colleagues told him they knew they should've voted to certify the electoral vote but didn't out of fear reason.com/2021/01/08/ama…
There are 27 House Dems we've been unable to find statements on (we've gone through every Twitter account, both official & campaign). Almost everyone supports some form of removal (like 25A or resignation), but some folks haven't expressly opined about impeachment
A number of articles of impeachment are circulating. The central one, by Reps. Lieu, Raskin, and Cicilline, now has 180 cosponsors. However, it likely won't appear on congress.gov until Monday at the soonest