NO, Mitch might be planning on doing it.
A great breakdown of Mitch McConnell's system of deceptive politics.
First, McConnell doesn’t care about holding a majority position in the Senate. Whether he is a majority leader or a minority leader doesn’t matter to McConnell. In fact McConnell’s political skill-set does better in the minority than the majority.
The preferred political position for Mitch McConnell is where he has between 45 and 49 republican Senators, and the Democrats hold the Majority with around 55. Of course with Senator Harry Reid’s retirement, this would now imply Majority leader Chuck Schumer holding office.
Why does McConnell prefer the minority position?
The answer is where you have had to actually follow Mitch McConnell closely to see how he works. When the Majority has around 52 to 55 seats, they need McConnell to give them 8 to 9 votes to overcome the three-fifths (60 vote) threshold for their legislative needs. It is in the process of trade and payment for those 8 to 9 votes where McConnell makes more money, and holds more power, than as a sitting Majority Leader.
The 60 vote threshold, and McConnell’s incredible skillset in the minority, is where he shines. Each of the needed votes to achieve sixty is worth buckets of indulgence to the minority leader and those on K-Street who need the Senate to support their legislative constructs. The votes to get to sixty are worth a lot of money.
This institutional dynamic is the currency of affluence and influence in the Senate; this is why Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell never changed the Senate rules for legislative passage. This is why the filibuster was retained and why the 60 vote threshold was always beneficial to both parties. The color of the flag atop the spire matters not.
Except for budget passage (reconciliation); and McConnell being forced by intransigence in the era of Trump resistance to change the judicial vote threshold to 51; McConnell would never consider changing the legislative threshold (60 votes) to a simple majority (51 votes) because it would be removing his favored position.
A simple majority vote is adverse to the institutional interests. That is why McConnell retained it during his reign as majority leader; as did Harry Reid before him.
The process of selling votes to the 60-vote threshold in the Senate is where the UniParty operates; and where the status of maximum financial benefit for the minority exists.
Currently, as majority leader with 52 GOP senators, McConnell needs to purchase eight or nine votes for each legislative priority.
Mitch McConnell doesn’t like being the purchaser, he prefers being the vote seller where his skill-set as a broker really shines. McConnell is much better at extracting terms for his vote sales, than being the purchaser for the votes of an intransigent minority wing. This is why the current Senate doesn’t pass many bills.
If Democrats were in the majority, and McConnell was the minority leader, we would see much more legislation pass because Schumer is a more well financed buyer (K-Street) and McConnell is a much better seller. Whenever we have this minority dynamic it always leaves people confused because few really watch what McConnell is doing.
McConnell takes his favorite 18 controlled GOP senators (Decepticons) and he brokers their votes on an ‘as needed’ basis. The eight to ten senators he selects each time get compensated in the process. McConnell rotates the financial beneficiaries on a bill-by-bill basis. As a consequence each of the 18 or so McConnell senators get quite wealthy over time, and McConnell gains additional power and influence.
McConnell decides who takes committee positions, those committee positions are worth money to K-Street purchasers of legislation. That’s one aspect to his power.
McConnell also hand-selects which senators will provide the votes to the majority to reach the 60 vote threshold. He uses a formula of favoritism, loyalty and studies the election cycles to determine who in his tribe will sell their votes and gain. That is the second aspect to his power.
If any of the republican Senators attempt to disrupt this UniParty business model McConnell excommunicates them from the legislative process; the best reference for the ‘excommunicado’ approach is former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC).
Additional references for how McConnell operates this scheme as the Minority Leader can be found in the Corker-Cardin amendment which allowed the Iran nuclear deal/payments under Obama; and/or the “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority deal for TPP passage, again for President Obama’s maximum benefit.
In these two examples McConnell worked with Harry Reid to flip the vote threshold from two-thirds (super-majority) need to approve, to two-thirds (super-majority) needed to deny. They flipped the dynamic in order to give Obama the tools he needed for the Iran deal and the Trans-Pacific-Partnership trade agreement (TPP).
A great breakdown of Mitch McConnell's system of deceptive politics.
First, McConnell doesn’t care about holding a majority position in the Senate. Whether he is a majority leader or a minority leader doesn’t matter to McConnell. In fact McConnell’s political skill-set does better in the minority than the majority.
The preferred political position for Mitch McConnell is where he has between 45 and 49 republican Senators, and the Democrats hold the Majority with around 55. Of course with Senator Harry Reid’s retirement, this would now imply Majority leader Chuck Schumer holding office.
Why does McConnell prefer the minority position?
The answer is where you have had to actually follow Mitch McConnell closely to see how he works. When the Majority has around 52 to 55 seats, they need McConnell to give them 8 to 9 votes to overcome the three-fifths (60 vote) threshold for their legislative needs. It is in the process of trade and payment for those 8 to 9 votes where McConnell makes more money, and holds more power, than as a sitting Majority Leader.
The 60 vote threshold, and McConnell’s incredible skillset in the minority, is where he shines. Each of the needed votes to achieve sixty is worth buckets of indulgence to the minority leader and those on K-Street who need the Senate to support their legislative constructs. The votes to get to sixty are worth a lot of money.
This institutional dynamic is the currency of affluence and influence in the Senate; this is why Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell never changed the Senate rules for legislative passage. This is why the filibuster was retained and why the 60 vote threshold was always beneficial to both parties. The color of the flag atop the spire matters not.
Except for budget passage (reconciliation); and McConnell being forced by intransigence in the era of Trump resistance to change the judicial vote threshold to 51; McConnell would never consider changing the legislative threshold (60 votes) to a simple majority (51 votes) because it would be removing his favored position.
A simple majority vote is adverse to the institutional interests. That is why McConnell retained it during his reign as majority leader; as did Harry Reid before him.
The process of selling votes to the 60-vote threshold in the Senate is where the UniParty operates; and where the status of maximum financial benefit for the minority exists.
Currently, as majority leader with 52 GOP senators, McConnell needs to purchase eight or nine votes for each legislative priority.
Mitch McConnell doesn’t like being the purchaser, he prefers being the vote seller where his skill-set as a broker really shines. McConnell is much better at extracting terms for his vote sales, than being the purchaser for the votes of an intransigent minority wing. This is why the current Senate doesn’t pass many bills.
If Democrats were in the majority, and McConnell was the minority leader, we would see much more legislation pass because Schumer is a more well financed buyer (K-Street) and McConnell is a much better seller. Whenever we have this minority dynamic it always leaves people confused because few really watch what McConnell is doing.
McConnell takes his favorite 18 controlled GOP senators (Decepticons) and he brokers their votes on an ‘as needed’ basis. The eight to ten senators he selects each time get compensated in the process. McConnell rotates the financial beneficiaries on a bill-by-bill basis. As a consequence each of the 18 or so McConnell senators get quite wealthy over time, and McConnell gains additional power and influence.
McConnell decides who takes committee positions, those committee positions are worth money to K-Street purchasers of legislation. That’s one aspect to his power.
McConnell also hand-selects which senators will provide the votes to the majority to reach the 60 vote threshold. He uses a formula of favoritism, loyalty and studies the election cycles to determine who in his tribe will sell their votes and gain. That is the second aspect to his power.
If any of the republican Senators attempt to disrupt this UniParty business model McConnell excommunicates them from the legislative process; the best reference for the ‘excommunicado’ approach is former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC).
Additional references for how McConnell operates this scheme as the Minority Leader can be found in the Corker-Cardin amendment which allowed the Iran nuclear deal/payments under Obama; and/or the “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority deal for TPP passage, again for President Obama’s maximum benefit.
In these two examples McConnell worked with Harry Reid to flip the vote threshold from two-thirds (super-majority) need to approve, to two-thirds (super-majority) needed to deny. They flipped the dynamic in order to give Obama the tools he needed for the Iran deal and the Trans-Pacific-Partnership trade agreement (TPP).
Reposting
A great breakdown of Mitch McConnell's system of deceptive politics.
First, McConnell doesn’t care about holding a majority position in the Senate. Whether he is a majority leader or a minority leader doesn’t matter to McConnell. In fact McConnell’s political skill-set does better in the minority than the majority.
The preferred political position for Mitch McConnell is where he has between 45 and 49 republican Senators, and the Democrats hold the Majority with around 55. Of course with Senator Harry Reid’s retirement, this would now imply Majority leader Chuck Schumer holding office.
Why does McConnell prefer the minority position?
The answer is where you have had to actually follow Mitch McConnell closely to see how he works. When the Majority has around 52 to 55 seats, they need McConnell to give them 8 to 9 votes to overcome the three-fifths (60 vote) threshold for their legislative needs. It is in the process of trade and payment for those 8 to 9 votes where McConnell makes more money, and holds more power, than as a sitting Majority Leader.
The 60 vote threshold, and McConnell’s incredible skillset in the minority, is where he shines. Each of the needed votes to achieve sixty is worth buckets of indulgence to the minority leader and those on K-Street who need the Senate to support their legislative constructs. The votes to get to sixty are worth a lot of money.
This institutional dynamic is the currency of affluence and influence in the Senate; this is why Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell never changed the Senate rules for legislative passage. This is why the filibuster was retained and why the 60 vote threshold was always beneficial to both parties. The color of the flag atop the spire matters not.
Except for budget passage (reconciliation); and McConnell being forced by intransigence in the era of Trump resistance to change the judicial vote threshold to 51; McConnell would never consider changing the legislative threshold (60 votes) to a simple majority (51 votes) because it would be removing his favored position.
A simple majority vote is adverse to the institutional interests. That is why McConnell retained it during his reign as majority leader; as did Harry Reid before him.
The process of selling votes to the 60-vote threshold in the Senate is where the UniParty operates; and where the status of maximum financial benefit for the minority exists.
Currently, as majority leader with 52 GOP senators, McConnell needs to purchase eight or nine votes for each legislative priority.
Mitch McConnell doesn’t like being the purchaser, he prefers being the vote seller where his skill-set as a broker really shines. McConnell is much better at extracting terms for his vote sales, than being the purchaser for the votes of an intransigent minority wing. This is why the current Senate doesn’t pass many bills.
If Democrats were in the majority, and McConnell was the minority leader, we would see much more legislation pass because Schumer is a more well financed buyer (K-Street) and McConnell is a much better seller. Whenever we have this minority dynamic it always leaves people confused because few really watch what McConnell is doing.
McConnell takes his favorite 18 controlled GOP senators (Decepticons) and he brokers their votes on an ‘as needed’ basis. The eight to ten senators he selects each time get compensated in the process. McConnell rotates the financial beneficiaries on a bill-by-bill basis. As a consequence each of the 18 or so McConnell senators get quite wealthy over time, and McConnell gains additional power and influence.
McConnell decides who takes committee positions, those committee positions are worth money to K-Street purchasers of legislation. That’s one aspect to his power.
McConnell also hand-selects which senators will provide the votes to the majority to reach the 60 vote threshold. He uses a formula of favoritism, loyalty and studies the election cycles to determine who in his tribe will sell their votes and gain. That is the second aspect to his power.
If any of the republican Senators attempt to disrupt this UniParty business model McConnell excommunicates them from the legislative process; the best reference for the ‘excommunicado’ approach is former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC).
Additional references for how McConnell operates this scheme as the Minority Leader can be found in the Corker-Cardin amendment which allowed the Iran nuclear deal/payments under Obama; and/or the “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority deal for TPP passage, again for President Obama’s maximum benefit.
In these two examples McConnell worked with Harry Reid to flip the vote threshold from two-thirds (super-majority) need to approve, to two-thirds (super-majority) needed to deny. They flipped the dynamic in order to give Obama the tools he needed for the Iran deal and the Trans-Pacific-Partnership trade agreement (TPP).
And a welcome to Chuck Schumer.