Biden Says He'd Veto Medicare For All, But There Is One Big Thing the 117th Congress COULD Achieve

The audio clip above is a harried House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, warning-- pleasing-- with his caucus not to throw each other under the bus, one reason being because Trumpists could murder them, which was also the excuse some Republicans gave for voting to not accept the votes from various states affirming that Biden was elected president. What a sad-sack party. How lucky are the Democrats-- also a sad-sack party-- that their opponents are the Republicans. Imagine if they had to battle a conscientious opposition party!

Although Andrew Restuccia doesn't explain that Trump is doing it as a direct threat to Republicans eager to throw him under the bus and decimate his influence on the GOP, the Wall Street Journal writer did report that Trump is casually tossing around the idea of creating a new so-called Patriot Party as an alternative to the Democrats and the Republicans.

Now let's focus non one very important 2022 state-- Wisconsin, where far right plutocrat Ron Johnson is up for reelection-- or pre-election retirement. Democrats are already lining top to take the Trump-extremist on. And yesterday Data For Progress reported some very dire news for Johnson. Trump's favorability is underwater among Cheeseheads-- 59% unfavorable and just 40% favorable. And among independents, who decide election outcomes in Wisconsin, Trump's favorables are just 33% compared to 66% unfavorable.

Asked the same question about Johnson and his statewide rating is 35% favorable and 48% unfavorable, even more disliked than Trump. Among independents, his favorables (30%) are lower than Trump's but his unfavorables (53%) aren't as high. Voters are angry he voted against certifying the results of the election.

Asked if Johnson should resign, 55% said yes and 45% no. Among independents, 56% say he should resign and 44% say he shouldn't. 52% favor expelling him from the Senate, which is opposed by just 39% of voters. Among independents, 52% want him expelled and 37% don't.

Does it make a difference? Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico-- politically (in the Senate at least) the way to help negate unstoppable growth of proto-fascism in North Dakota and Wyoming-- are not on Biden's agenda. To pass statehood, the Democrats probably need to win some red-held Senate seats in 2022, Wisconsin (as well as Pennsylvania and North Carolina and possibly Florida, Iowa and Ohio). But... if statehood for DC and Puerto Rico really isn't filibusterable, as Jon Walker asserts, maybe it can be done now. "Constitutionally," he wrote, "the admission of a new state is not actually a legislative matter, so the legislative filibuster shouldn't apply. In recent years both Democrats and Republicans, by ending the filibuster for confirming presidential appointments (a power outlined in Article II, Section 2), have in effect agreed the filibuster shouldn't apply to certain constitutional matters that aren't covered by Article I of the Constitution, which lays out the design of Congress and its legislative powers. The admission of a new state is also not included in Article I. The drafters set it apart as something distinct, not a change to law but a change to the structure of government.

Admission of states is dealt with separately in Article VI, Section 3 which says, 'New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.'"

It is no accident that the framers set the admission of new states as a matter separate from legislation. It is also clear they purposely choose not to have a supermajority requirement for it, as had existed under the Articles of Confederation. Our early leaders understood the existential need to add new states, but the Articles made the process nearly impossible. Having territories like Vermont bordering the new country which existed in an unaligned legal grey area because they weren't able to be admitted was a real potential threat to the nation. An attempt was made to admit the state of Franklin (an area that is now Eastern Tennessee) which got majority support but failed to get supermajority support in part due to a dispute with North Carolina over who controlled the area.

Having a clear system to admit new states with a simple majority, as long as the new state wasn't part of another state without that state's permission, was considered an important improvement of the new Constitution.

...Ultimately, the rules of the Senate are whatever a majority of senators say they are. It is possible and reasonable both to keep the legislative filibuster and to allow statehood to proceed with a simple majority vote. Democrats can grant full representation to the 3.9 million people living in D.C. and Puerto Rico-- if they want to.