No time like the present to call your Senators and ask them to vote No on cloture for the continuing resolution until the Musk/Trump administration stops their lawbreaking

  • DirkMcCallahan@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    The best argument I’ve heard against Dems filibustering the CR is that a filibuster would mean that they would - in the eyes of the public - take responsibility for the shutdown, and that the public would blame them for EVERYTHING wrong with the country now, including all of the Trump/Musk messes.

    Which is insane to me. Allowing the CR to go through would cause much more direct harm, show that the Dems don’t really care about opposing this insanity, and - if we’re worried about PR - allow the GOP to blame future problems on Biden since they’re marketing the CR as a continuation of Biden’s budget when it’s really nothing of the sort.

    This is precisely the time to use the filibuster. If the GOP wants to remove it, let them. They’ll own it, and if the Dems ever get back into power, it’ll help them tremendously.

    • ceenote@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      “The president is, through Elon Musk and DOGE, trying to illegally seize the power of the purse from Congress by unilaterally shutting down programs that congress funded and Americans rely on. If we don’t use every tool available to us to protect the separation of powers, we would be in violation of the oaths we swore to protect and defend the constitution.”

      Thats all they should need to say. This is a pretty black and white situation.

    • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      The best argument I’ve heard against Dems filibustering the CR is that a filibuster would mean that they would - in the eyes of the public - take responsibility for the shutdown, and that the public would blame them for EVERYTHING wrong with the country now, including all of the Trump/Musk messes.

      This plays right into the GOP’s (and especially Johnson’s) hands, because that’s the exact narrative they’re trying to push. “Despite the fact that we control literally every branch of government and the Democrats have no leverage, it’s completely the Democrats’ fault if the government shuts down.”

      They’re going to do it anyway, regardless of if you vote for or against the CR. Republicans don’t take responsibility. That’s a rule carried over from the McConnell era. Blame everything on Democrats. Push the narrative hard, and eventually the base will believe it.

      Democrats would just need to respond with “This CR would enable DOGE to continue their illegal and unconstitutional gutting of social safety net programs and firings of federal employees en masse. The government employees that would be affected by a government shutdown are also the same employees that are most vulnerable to being fired on the whims of Donald Trump and/or Elon Musk anyway. Democrats cannot vote in favor of a continuing resolution without also validating the GOP’s continued illegal and unconstitutional purge of our government employees and social safety net programs. Republicans are in control of all branches of government. If they want to continue down this destructive path, they have the ability to do so without a single Democrat vote, and that is what they will have to do.”