GOP gallery of nightmares: 10 policies Biden and Democrats would ram through after axing filibusterWashington Examiner, Jul 19, 2020
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden put Republicans on notice this week: If you use the filibuster to stymie his agenda, you’ll lose it. [...] Here are 10 liberal policies that Biden and the Democrats could enact without the filibuster that would be difficult to get through if it remained in effect:
1.
Gun control: After largely abandoning the issue following election losses in the 1990s, a series of high-profile mass shootings have increased Democratic support for passing what they now describe as “commonsense gun safety legislation.†The details of the exact proposals have varied, but universal background checks and reinstating the so-called assault weapons ban, originally passed as part of Biden’s 1994 crime bill, would seem to be priorities if Democrats win in November. The Biden “plan to end our gun violence epidemic†would make gun manufacturers liable for crimes committed using their products and ban high-capacity magazines. Republicans, and a few Democrats from states with a high number of legal gun owners, would resist such efforts. Junking the filibuster would take away a tool for doing so.
2.
Amnesty for illegal immigrants: There was filibuster-proof support for comprehensive immigration reform that would have legalized a large majority of the unauthorized immigrants currently residing in the United States under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, but Republican opposition stiffened after the collapse of the Gang of Eight in 2013 and the election of Donald Trump in 2016. The DREAM Act, a legislative precursor to Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, was stopped by a filibuster in 2012.
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3.
Taxpayer funding of abortion: Facing liberal pressure, Biden has abandoned his support for the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal funding of abortion. Democrats frequently campaign on Hyde Amendment repeal but have not made a serious attempt to do so since 1993 because the Senate votes have not been there even when they have been in the majority. But with fewer anti-abortion Democrats in Congress than ever before and no filibuster, it would be easier to pass such legislation and restore Medicaid-funded abortions for the first time since 1976.
4.
Tax increases: While most tax and spending legislation can already avoid the filibuster’s supermajority requirement through the reconciliation process, some provisions can still be blocked by the minority. Under Obama, Senate Democrats tried to improve their prospects for repealing the Bush tax cuts with legislation separating the middle-class reductions from those for upper-income earners. Both pieces of legislation were stopped by filibuster, and most of the tax cuts were extended in 2013. Democrats are likely to try something similar with the Trump tax cuts, and without the filibuster, they could. The Buffet rule, which imposed a 30% minimum tax on the wealthy, was also blocked by filibuster. So was a Democratic resolution stating, “any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.â€
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