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i’m tired but just wanted to explain what’s been going on in the senate with the $2000 checks bc it’s really confusing and due to a lot of strange rules:
Yesterday there was a “unanimous consent” vote to vote for a standalone bill for $2000 checks. It was assumed that would not happen due to mcconnell (which it didnt) which is why most senators were not there. physically silencing mcconnell was the only thing that could stop that
today there was a push for a yes-no vote. Again, this was a weird procedural thing which, naturally, mitch mcconnell stopped bc he sucks and unfortunately physical fighting is not allowed on the senate floor. Again, no other senator could stop that.
So now we approach the filibuster. Bernie and Markey intend to filibuster the NDAA veto override unless a vote occurs on checks. The NDAA override needing to occur is actually an elaborate (and frustrating) piece of political chess.
Trump vetoed it for two main reasons: “section 230” which regulates how tech companies can censor people, and an amendment to rename any bases/monuments/etc named after confederates. bc, you know, he’s racist lol
the confederate renaming amendment was actually written and strongarmed through the gop majority defense committee by warren (who then voted against the ndaa in principal since it funds our overbloated imperialist military machine).
of course, war is one of the most bipartisan issues, so the ndaa passed congress easily with minor dissent from progressives and some “republican libertarians”. You only vote against something you fought on editing if you know something else will happen.
Naturally, trump was mad about the renaming and the section 230 stuff and vetoed the bill which now gives markey and bernie the opportunity to use the filibuster to prevent the veto override from happening in the senate unless $2000 stimulus checks are passed. Last ditch effort!
So in conclusion: the senate requires a ridiculous amount of political game playing to get things done, screw mitch mcconnell, bernie/warren/markey are inextricably linked in giving us this last shot at getting $2k survival checks. This is a mess, so engage in direct aid instead!
Also i fully think more senators need to be standing up for survival checks and it’s evil this is even a debate. Mitch mcconnell is actually soulless scum and the levels of technocratic bureaucracy in congress are confusing and directly stifle major change!
also im not a polisci major and am generally confused about what’s been happening and this is very simplified and its likely some part of it is slightly off lol but if people who are super involved with politics can’t even follow this that is a really big issue!
there’s also this but i’m not 100% sure where this fits in. the senators who voted against staring debate are the ones who also voted against the bill initially https://twitter.com/craigcaplan/status/1344417221020430337
This is not a vote on the ndaa! This is a vote to proceed with debating on the ndaa and there seems to be confusion on that but regardless it’s annoying and bad
