The filibuster, the Biden-Harris Administration, and using losses to win

Josh Marshall takes a swipe at what is going on with the Biden-Harris Administration's legislative strategy to overcome Republican obstruction on major bills. That's assuming they actually have a coherent strategy. (We Must Sail, Not Drift: The White House is Adrift and on a Path to Defeat TPM 06/04/2021)

The bottom line in his analysis:

If you’re likely to lose it is better to structure the engagement on your own terms than to drift and await the action or inaction of others. This is true both as a dignified and ethical approach to life and as the best course to achieve a positive result. Biden will have to start placing some limits on the course of events. I don’t think he can allow Joe Manchin to decide when the negotiations have run long enough, which seems to be the case now. I think he’ll have to move on to passing his own bill. Then Manchin will have to decide whether he votes for or against it. It’s entirely possible he’ll do the latter. But then we will at least know where everyone stands. And that’s a better way to go down to defeat than path we’re currently on. ...

Taking charge of the situation doesn’t ensure victory. But it’s a better shot at it than the current drift. And in any case, it’s better to lose on your own terms than the current death of a thousand cuts. [my emphasis]

Josh's analysis looks at some of the negotiating dynamics involving Prime Minister Joe Manchin. Including the fact that he himself isn't obviously using his own leverage in the negotiations to pressure Republicans to come closer to Democratic proposals.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced that he will bring several major pieces of legislation "to the floor" in June, including the US Innovation and Competition Act, Paycheck Fairness Act (fair wages for women), gun safety legislation (maybe), and the particularly urgently needed "For The People" voting-rights bill, That means that to block them with the filibuster, the Republicans will have to show up in person to vote on the filibuster, as opposed to the current system where they can support a filibuster by a phone call or an email.

Legislative battles and the accompanying parliamentary procedural fog can obscure the significance of the actual votes being taken. In recent decades, the Republicans with their very aggressive legislative obstructionism against Democratic President from Clinton to Obama to Biden have shown themselves to be considerably more skilled at framing the public meaning of those fights than the Democrats have been.

And I take that to be the main point of that column. The Administration and the Senate Democrats need a well-thought-out political strategy to maximize the political cost to the Republicans of voting against popular legislation. They also have to hammer home a consistent message to voters that the Republicans blocked this legislation and that is bad for you.

It can hardly be said enough that the For The People voting-rights legislation is urgent to block and reverse the segregationist voter-suppression laws Republicans are furiously pushing across the country.

The TPM TV podcast for 06/04/2021 covers the filibuster problems and other issues, Ep. 175: Two Tracks: