Senate confirms Biden s first ambassador thehill.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehill.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The shaky grounds for bipartisanship come as Democrats are facing problems in their own caucus. A growing number of Democratic lawmakers are skeptical that Republicans even want to cut big bipartisan deals, and view negotiations as a waste of time.
“Dems are burning precious time & impact negotiating w/GOP who won’t even vote for a Jan 6 commission. McConnell’s plan is to run out the clock. It’s a hustle. We need to move now,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
But Democrats don’t have the votes to nix the filibuster, which would require total unity from their 50-member Senate caucus. That’s forcing them to lean on their negotiations with Republicans to try to figure out if there’s a path to the 60 votes needed to advance most legislation.
Democratic senator defends decision not to call witnesses: They weren t going to get more Republican votes thehill.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehill.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“All of these are questions of first impression, in terms of constitutionality,” he added. “I certainly think there is a 14th Amendment avenue separate and aside from impeachment.”
The possibility of using the 14th Amendment comes as Democrats have publicly called for Trump to be blocked from holding office down the line. Trump riled up his supporters on Jan. 6 at a rally outside the White House and urged them to march to the Capitol, where rioters subsequently stormed the building in a melee that left five people dead.
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Chuck SchumerTrump allies line up ahead of potentially bruising primariesWhere to, Puerto Rico?Democrats make low-tax states an offer they should refuse MORE (D-N.Y.) has already pledged to hold a vote on blocking Trump from holding future office if the Senate votes to convict him as part of an impeachment trial for “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.” Though conviction requires two-thirds support, bar
Democrats are shooting down an effort by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell We’re not going to give him what he wishes. If you did that then there would be just unbridled use of it. I mean nothing holding him back, said Sen. Dick Durbin
McConnell has urged Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer
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McConnell, according to Durbin, wanted to include in the Senate s rules a guarantee that there would be no effort to pursue the nuclear option changing the rules with a simple majority rather than the higher 60- or 67-vote threshold during the next two years, or as long as the 50-50 split lasted.