In my opinion the filibuster is a waste of time and taxpayer money. Nothing gets done because the other side has no other means to combat the side that is in power.
I say the side that has the power should just ram their agenda through. The people have spoken as far as who they want representing America.
I may be shooting myself in the foot on this one but hey, the people hold the power and if the majority of the people are dumb-asses, then I guess it becomes what it is.
And of course, vice versa.
Unfortunately, the Senate has become little more than a battlefield where bills passed by the House can be halted when either party fails to have at least 60 seats -- assuming cloture applies to that measure.
The original intent of the Senate was to inject a little more sanity into the lawmaking process. The founders recognized that the majority in the House is comprised of representatives often from the most populous states, meaning those states will have more chances to advance their agendas. The Senate remained a 2-Senators-per-state body so that bad bills from the House might have a better chance of being stopped, or at least changed for the better, before becoming law.
Because the national party leadership now decides most Reps' and Senators' positions on votes, the outcome has been predetermined based on who holds the majority. That's true unless one side filibusters and the majority can't muster 60 votes to stop it. Partisan politics loves a good filibuster. Movies have been made about it (Mr. Smith goes to Washington).
Should we get rid of the filibuster completely? i don't think so. Should we get rid of it just long enough to get a budget passed so the government can reopen? If that's the only option, then yes.
i read that the shutdown is costing the economy between $7 billion and $14 billion in GDP, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Three scenarios were analyzed: What if the shutdown lasts (1) four weeks (a mark we already hit Wednesday), (2) six weeks, or (3) two months? If gov't reopened today, the GDP will have lost over $7B. If it were to drag on for an additional month, that's a $14B loss. if it extends even further, the damage would start to compound upon itself.
The longest shutdown was under Trump's administration Dec 22, 2018, to Jan 25, 2019 -- 35 days total.
This shutdown is already the second longest in US history after the 2018 shutdown. It will become the longest if it continues through next week Wednesday (Nov 5th).