To help Kentuckians now and in the future, it’s time to ditch the filibuster | Opinion

Though 52 Republican Senators have voted 15 times to pass the clean Continuing Resolution that would keep the government open, 44 Senate Democrats have voted no each time, thus failing to overcome the Senate filibuster that requires 60 votes.

With the aid of Democratic rhetoric supported by the propaganda of the mainstream media, Republicans, as usual, are being assessed the lion’s share of the blame for the current government shut-down. Even worse, the shut-down has retarded the pace of Trump Administration objectives, causing parts of the electorate to be concerned about the efficacy of a party having unified control over both houses of Congress and the White House.

The singular legislative goal of the Democrats in filibustering the clean CR is to perpetuate a failed health care program, the mislabeled Affordable Care Act, by extending the Obama-care tax subsidies passed during COVID-19 that Dems, themselves, sun-setted effective Dec. 31, 2025 in a subsequent bill. The ACA has proven to be anything but “affordable” and needs to be replaced.

A secondary objective of the Democrats’ reticence is to show its far-left base how “courageously” they can stand up to Trump. It should also be noted the Democrats’ amendments to the clean CR would add $1.5 trillion in new spending, much of which would pay for Medicaid, left-wing programs across the globe and the refinancing of NPR and PBS — left-wing propaganda outlets that were defunded in the Big Beautiful Bill.

This shut-down has been particularly hard on Kentuckians. Many air-traffic controllers across the country and state who have gone without pay checks are walking off the job. As a result — and in the primary interest of safety — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered a 4 percent reduction in air-traffic flow starting last week, which could go as high as a 10 percent cutback by the end of this week. This has caused massive delays and cancellations at Bluegrass Airport in Lexington and Muhammed Ali International Airport in Louisville.

Almost 600,000 Kentucky residents, or about 13 percent of the state’s population, rely on SNAP benefits that are being threatened by the lack of funding authority due to the shut-down. Food pantries and religious organizations that support the poor have been overrun by people who fear the loss of SNAP benefits might compromise their ability to get sufficient food. More than 1.2 million Kentuckians (about 22 percent of the state population) are on Medicaid. The federal government reimburses the state about 69 percent of its Medicaid outlays, but none of these reimbursement funds can flow until the government is re-opened.

Given how long it’s taken to reopen the government, which may happen this week, the time to ditch the legislative filibuster may have arrived. The filibuster is not a constitutional or even legal principle; it is more of a gentleman’s agreement contrived to foster bi-partisanship while protecting the minority party from rule by a moderate majority. Hence, the 60-vote cloture rule. Just as Harry Reid and the Democrats ditched the filibuster for confirming Cabinet nominations and Judicial appointees in 2010, the Senate Majority Party could change the rules of the legislative filibuster to enable the Republican Senate to open up the government with just 51 votes.

Another reason for considering this draconian tactic is the perception that Democrats will kill the filibuster, anyway, as soon as it is political advantageous for them to do so. As an example, Dems had unified control of the government between Jan. 20, 2021 and Jan. 19, 2023. At that time, they could have changed the Senate rules and passed major pieces of legislation based on a simple majority vote. This would have enabled them to pack the Supreme Court and vote in statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. There were only two reasons Schumer didn’t ditch the filibuster then and enact these coveted Democratic goals: Their names were Manchin and Sinema. Now, those two former Senators have been politically blacklisted by their own party.

By ditching the filibuster NOW, Republicans will not only be able to open up the government immediately; they will be able to pass much of Trump’s domestic agenda. Once these bills have been passed into law, the Republicans can do one final thing: Having unified control, they can pass a law codifying the re-emergence of the filibuster. This would deny either Party with a simple majority in the Senate the ability to eliminate the invaluable and time-honored filibuster.

Steve Nussbaum earned advanced degrees in Public Administration from the Rockerfeller College of Public Affairs & Policy in Albany, NY and parlayed a 29-year stint as a health care researcher with the NY State Dept. of Health into a second, still-active 25-year career as an independent insurance agent in Kentucky.