“I haven’t yet decided whether there’s merit to getting involved,” he said.
“I spent a lot of time on this particularly when Sen. Schumer and I were the chairman and the ranking member on Rules and he was never willing to do any of these things that would eliminate the first 60-vote hurdle or anything like that,” Blunt added.
The effort to see if there’s a deal to be had on smaller changes to the Senate rules comes as Democrats don’t currently have the votes to nix the legislative filibuster. Democrats hold 50 seats, but Manchin and Sinema are both publicly opposed to ending the legislative filibuster. Several others are leery of taking such a step.
Kaine is still gathering input but has drafted a resolution that would formally censure Trump. It also includes provisions that would mirror language in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment on barring officials from holding future office. In a way I view it as kind of censure-plus because it has these two factual findings that could have the same consequence as an impeachment conviction, Kaine said. It s not just, hey you did those things and that s bad.
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Kaine added that the language in the resolution which he noted was technically a condemnation resolution would have practical consequences if Trump runs for office again, something he s flirted with.