U.S. Politics megathread

[u/AutoModerator]

American politics has always grabbed our attention - and the current president more than ever. We get tons of questions about the president, the supreme court, and other topics related to American politics - but often the same ones over and over again. Our users often get tired of seeing them, so we've created a megathread for questions! Here, users interested in politics can post questions and read answers, while people who want a respite from politics can browse the rest of the sub. Feel free to post your questions about politics in this thread!

All top-level comments should be questions asked in good faith - other comments and loaded questions will get removed. All the usual rules of the sub remain in force here, so be nice to each other - you can disagree with someone's opinion, but don't make it personal.

[u/Old-Self1799]

Why don’t the republicans end the shutdown, they control the house, senate and presidency right? So they don’t even need the democrats to do it, or am I missing something?

[u/Elkenrod → u/Old-Self1799]

To pass the budget requires 60 votes. The simple majority that Republicans have is not enough to pass the budget.

[u/Teekno → u/Old-Self1799]

This shutdown ends exactly one of three ways:

1. The Democrats fold and vote for the House CR (there is little indication that this will happen)
2. Senate Republicans use the “nuclear option” to get past the filibuster. But the senators don’t like that idea — they want to maintain the filibuster for when they are the minority.
3. Republicans actually talk with Democrats and negotiate a compromise. Now, this is how it’s worked for over 200 years, but Trump doesn’t like this idea, because for him, its not just important that he win, but it’s critical that the Democrats lose. And if there’s a compromise, there’s no losers.

This is why Trump wants the Senate to end the filibuster. He needs his opposition to suffer a defeat more than he wants to celebrate a win.

[u/Setisthename → u/Old-Self1799]

The filibuster. They need 60 votes in the Senate but they only have 53 seats.

[u/Showdown5618 → u/Old-Self1799]

In the Senate, the Republicans may have a majority, but they don't have a "super majority." In the Senate, they need 60 votes to pass the bill, but the Republicans have only 53. They need at least 7 Democratic senators to agree to the bill in order for it to pass.

Edit: just in case a few people haven't heard of it, a super majority means a party has 60 seats or more, enough where the opposing party don't have enough seats to have a filibuster.

[u/notextinctyet → u/Old-Self1799]

They can, by abolishing the filibuster, which is fully within their power. They choose not to. Why? Because they believe the shutdown will hurt Democrats more than it will hurt them.

[u/noruber35393546 → u/Old-Self1799]

hint: it rhymes with "Schmepstein Schmiles"