Episode 32767: Open Democracy Minute for Aug 16, 2021 - The For the People Act vote in the U.S. Senate delayed until September

Open Democracy Minute

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. After bruising negotiations to pass the infrastructure, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer put off last week's expected vote on the for the People Act until the week of September 13, and recessed for the remainder of August. Before that decision, Schumer had put forth two smaller bills for unanimous consent to bring them up for debate, one on disclosure of Dark Money donors, and one a requirement that Congressional districts be drawn without gerrymandering. Both are also components of the For the People Act and both unanimous consent requests received objections from Texas Senator Ted Cruz. What this confirmed, for the benefit of Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema is there is no Republican support for these fundamental democracy reforms, putting pressure on centrist democrats modify the filibuster rules . This might include a “carve out” for legislation of this type, or return to the “standing filibuster. NH Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen have expressed openness to changes, but are reluctant to do away the filibuster entirely. The current filibuster rule, when invoked, requires 60 Senate votes to pass ANY legislation – which is WHY the Senate gets little accomplished. The Senate switchboard is 888-453-3211. As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.” For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm Brian Beihl.