Ten Red-State Democrats May Hold the Balance of Power

>In political terms, the Democratic 10 actually divide into two subgroups, those from states Mr. Trump carried easily and those from states he barely won. In the former category are West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, Montana’s Jon Tester, Missouri’s Claire McCaskill and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly. On the other end of the scale are those from states Mr. Trump won in a squeaker: Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, Florida’s Bill Nelson and Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow. Somewhere in the middle is Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, from a state Mr. Trump won by eight points.

>Ideologically, the group ranges from a true liberal, Mr. Brown, to a group of moderate to conservative Democrats, such as Sens. Manchin, Tester and Heitkamp. Indeed, the Trump transition team even considered offering Mr. Manchin and Ms. Heitkamp jobs in the administration, a move that might clear the way for them to be replaced in the Senate by Republicans.

>The key question is where some combination of ideological affinity and political pressure might compel some of these susceptible Democrats to cross party lines to support the Trump agenda. That is most likely to happen on environmental issues, where home-state politics may push these swing Democrats into line with the Trump agenda, Senate aides say.

>It is less clear that Republicans can woo enough of them to get to 60 votes on questions such as dismantling the Dodd-Frank financial regulations. On health care, some of these Democrats likely will be sympathetic to the call for repealing the Affordable Care Act, but probably only if there is a clear alternative in hand to replace it.

>The biggest question mark is where the Democratic 10 will land on key economic issues. On some of those questions he may have at least as much trouble unifying his own Republicans as he has wooing these Democrats.
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>>95001
>hey could provide the additional votes required to get Senate Republicans from the 52 seats they hold to the 60 votes they will need to break the filibusters
Didn't democrats remove the filibusters? Or was that just for the House.

>>95120
Senate too though on judicial appointments (not supreme court. They shot themselves in the foot as now trump can appoint 100 judges plus with a simple majority.

>>95121
This is why Harry Reid did it:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/mitch-mcconnell-judges-225455

>Under the McConnell-led Senate, just 20 district and circuit court judges have been confirmed at a time when the vacancies are hampering the federal bench nationwide, according to the Congressional Research Service. During George W. Bush’s final two years in the White House, Senate Democrats in the majority shepherded through 68 federal judges — a courtesy that Democrats now complain Republicans aren’t affording to President Barack Obama, even though Obama has had more judges confirmed overall.

>>95121
>>95122

I would rather have functioning courts, so it doesn't matter as much to me if you need 51% or 60% to get a nomination (plus any nomination that's totally bonkers will undoubtedly cause dissent in the majority party). It's the intentional delays for pure political bullshit that have annoyed me the most in the last year. The Supreme Court should NOT be understaffed for this long, an it makes me angry that the Republican party was rewarded for intentionally sabotaging a key government function. On top of that a cross-party selection and confirmation process would have resulted in the best candidate for the job, now we'll have to hope that they single-party process doesn't result in a partisan pick who is more interested in an agenda over the letter and spirit of the law.

>>95122
I know why he did it still funny to see it be used against him.

>>95123
you have the wrong mindset about government. it's actually better when they do nothing. I don't want any new laws, regulations, ideas, or any new shit.

just steal my money and allocate it to the benefit of America. otherwise, FUCK OFF.

>>95127

Courts do not create laws, they either carry out the law by overseeing trials or interpret existing laws to either render them inert (unconstitutional) or find their intended meaning (encourages precision language in laws to prevent overreach). Having less judges actively harms the smooth functioning of existing government duties by holding back cases.

You'll notice I agree with you on divided government: it's better that they are split to prevent extremists from rising, and produces the most agreeable results. However, this does not mean that basic functions, such as passing budgets and confirming judges, should be delayed for purely partisan reasons.

>>95131
Then both parties are to blame democrats refuse to pass or even developed a budget and republicans refused to confirm judges both are bad. That is why Trump was elected as he represents a new path then either party proposed.

>>95134

>Then both parties are to blame democrats refuse to pass or even developed a budget

Except the party leading government shutdowns over petty shit in the budget lands squarely on the Republican party, or more specifically Ted Cruz and his ilk. The tea party has been trying it's damnest to burn the government to the ground with little regard for the well being of the nation and have just received massive control of the government as a reward. I can only hope that the Republican old guard has enough sense to prevent them from going totally wild and sabotaging what's left of critical government features in their idealistic crusade against big government.

>>95149
Democrats have done the same thing. Both parties are bad. If you disagree you are incorrect and foolish.

>>95149
Ideally, the federal government would have no power at all, so I don't mind it getting burnt. States should have all the control over their own domestic and foreign affairs, and that blasted Lincoln was the one who set the precedence for federal power creep.

>>95127
Don't waste your winter break shitposting on 4chan friend, you'll regret it later.

>>96004
you will find life a lot easier to deal with when you abandon ideals and embrace pragmatism