Kaine: Senate Dems are an 'emergency brake'

[mystery-ak]

Kaine: Senate Dems are an 'emergency brake'

By Elana Schor

11/15/16 06:45 PM EST


Tim Kaine returned to the Senate on Tuesday "a little sadder, a little wiser, and a lot energized," hailing his fellow Democrats as "the emergency brake" on the broad Republican control that President-elect Donald Trump will bring to Washington.

"The Democratic Senate minority is about the only emergency brake there is on the train right now," Kaine said, describing his caucus' power to filibuster legislation or Supreme Court nominees as "a power that has to be used judiciously."

The former vice presidential nominee echoed many fellow Democrats in criticizing Trump's appointment of chief strategist Steve Bannon, slamming the former Breitbart News chief for his "connection to white nationalists and anti-Semitism."

Kaine, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, also weighed in on his party's burgeoning battle over the next DNC chief. While praising Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) — who has racked up endorsements from Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate Democratic leader — Kaine also said he is "a big fan" of DNC contenders Howard Dean and Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/tim-kaine-senate-emergency-brake-231449

[Free Vulcan]

Of course McConnell won't end the filibuster do to the 'great bipartisan tradition' of the Senate, but it needs to go.

It's like you win, but you don't really win. I realize that it will set precedent that the Dems will use against the GOP in the future, but a) they will do it anyway, and b) it's really the minority party's problem that they didn't win. They should have run better campaigns.

The majority shouldn't be kneecapped because they don't have a filibuster proof majority.