The Hoops to Pass a Bill

Earlier today, I suggested that Democrats in the US Senate go nuclear and end the filibuster. Not only do I suggest it, but I'll go so far as saying that the death of the filibuster is inevitable, sooner or later. To better understand why, let's look at how hard it is to pass a bill through federal government. (I'm lifting most of this off a comment I made to the original post, but it's so important to stress that I'm making this its own post.)

Here's the current hoops bills have to go through to pass:

In the House:

The bill must be filed, with co-sponsors. It usually takes many co-sponsors to get a bill to pass.

The bill must get through committee; the vast majority of bills never do.

The bill then has to get through the entire House.

The Senate:

A bill must be filed; co-sponsored. It usually takes many co-sponsors to get a bill to gain steam.

The bill must get through committee; the vast majority of bills never do.

Then it must get a filibuster proof majority (with the exception of the budget).

Then it must pass.

But we're not done yet!

House and Senate:

Now the two similar bills must go through and pass conference committees. This in and of itself can be a very difficult process, because there's often very different versions of these bills, with people wanting very different results. Let's assume it passes conference committee.

Now the unified bill must be passed through the House and Senate again - and these bills are often radically different than the original bills passed, so again, this is no easy process.

Now, we're *still* not done. The bill must survive the veto pen. If it does not, to pass the bill there must be a veto-proof majority (2/3rds, I believe).

And we're STILL not done. Now that the bill is law, it must pass constitutional muster. If the bill is radically far out there, it very well may not.

I could go on.

So under normal and even no-where-near normal circumstances, it's very hard to pass bills. It's nearly impossible to pass bills that would be anethema to the American people.

Do we really need a filibuster, with all those other safety measures? NO!

So,

• If a party has all a firm majority in both houses of the legislature and
• If the same party has the presidency and
• If there's complete party unison to one ideological extreme and
• If all of that leads to bills that are against the will of the people,
• Then we're going to see one angry mob at election booths across the country within short order.

I am not worried.