Durbin: 'I think I'm close' to getting Senate votes needed to advance DREAM Act

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: CNN

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Sunday that he thinks he is "close" to securing the Republican votes needed to overcome a Senate filibuster to advance a key immigration measure that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

"I've been stopped by the filibuster five times from passing it. I had a majority, I didn't have 60 votes. Do I have 60 now? I think I'm close," the Illinois Democrat told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" Sunday.

Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat, said he plans to sit down with Republican members and ask if they would consider supporting the DREAM Act, which would allow the young undocumented immigrants known as "Dreamers" permanent residency -- and potentially citizenship.

"I think I'll have some support. Whether it's enough remains to be seen," he said.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/durbin-i-think-im-close-to-getting-senate-votes-needed-to-advance-dream-act/ar-BB1eOk0H?li=BBnb7Kz

[drray23]

1. none of then will vote for it.

Its should be obvious by now that all the republicans are interested in doing is negotiate to water down bills proposed by democrats and then once we concede to some of their demands and put the bill on the floor they dont vote for it anyway.

[Mike Nelson]

2. I think...

... maybe 55, but I'm not seeing 60. Even 55 would be lucky. I wonder if several of the retiring Republicans might be considering?

[AleksS]

3. Oh Sen. Durbin, you sweet summer child.

You won’t break a filibuster. You’ll be lucky beyond belief to get a single R vote.

[awesomerwb1]

4. This is not the Dream and Promise Act

The Dream Act is different. Leaves out a lot of people like TPS and DED folks who are set to lose status by september/october. It’s a watered down version of the Dream and Promise Act.
Not sure why Durbin is so much in favor of this one when he knows it’s not what Dems want.

[frazzled]

5. Well, maybe because

if it’s nearly impossible to even get the votes for this, it’s completely impossible to get the votes for something more expansive. Having been the Senate Democratic whip for many many years, Durbin understands that getting something is entirely preferable to losing everything.

There would have been no Dream Act at all without Duck Durbin. It’s his baby, and he needs to protect what he can.

[Calista241]

6. I wonder what his definition of 'close' is. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

7. As a sidenote on this and the "filibuster" (cloture)

the differential here is that in the past, several in the GOP were amenable to what we are talking about here for being "in support of" - i.e., "a motion to proceed to debate", where the "debate" is normally about 30 hours, evenly divided (unless some Rule was negotiated and passed with a lower debate time).

So "some" might agree to "move forward with debate" (invoke cloture), but then will usually end up voting against the final passage in the end (due to GOP intransigent "anti-lib" nonsense). Otherwise by not agreeing to invoke cloture (non-talking filibuster), the bill is DOA.

The fact that Democrats control the chamber and the schedule is the only reason why this next procedural hurdle is even being broached. Had Georgians not crawled over glass to get Warnock and Ossoff elected, Turtle would have remained Majority Leader and would have tossed this bill into his circular file where he deposits his turtle droppings.

[ancianita]

8. Which shows

me that if they want the 2022 vote, the Dems had better get votes to reform the filibuster.
Because if two recalcitrants are doing GOP lite theater, no matter how sincere they are, they shouldn't be allowed to sink their own party.
Or Schumer should simply disregard the parliamentarian and suspend it. If meant "bold," he should be bold.

These could be test bills where Durbin maps Repub support before Dems double down on the filibuster.

I'm probably missing some 'norm' here, but whatever. Either they mend it or end it. But stalling the bipartisan will of The People will have consequences in 2022.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Dismissing what the Parliamentarian recommends doesn't mean

the Majority Leader can unilaterally suspend the Rule. They'd still have to vote on it. It seems there have been fleeting signals that some compromise on it might be possible - i.e., limiting the 60-vote Rule to certain types of legislation and allowing other legislation to pass by a simple majority. The other thing floated seems to be the "talking filibuster", i.e., to force a Senator to hold the floor (which holds up legislative business) until you have the 3/5 vote willing to halt it and proceed to regular debate.

The danger with pushing Manchin (and possibly Sinema) too hard, is provoking them to make a party switch, which would immediately end Democratic control of the Senate. Examples of that included Ben Nighthorse-Campbell in 1995 -

NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL SWITCHES TO GOP

HELEN DEWAR , The Washington Post THE MORNING CALL

Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell yesterday quit the Democratic Party and became a Republican, giving the GOP a big boost the day after the Senate dealt a heavy blow to its legislative agenda in defeating the proposed constitutional amendment to balance the budget. Campbell, 61, the only American Indian serving in Congress, said he had been weighing the party switch for several weeks and that Democratic efforts to defeat the amendment, which he supported, "brought into focus" his increasing estrangement from the party. Campbell's switch gives Republicans 54 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

Campbell announced his decision at a Capitol Hill news conference, surrounded by Majority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., and about 20 other beaming Republican senators, who praised him to the skies. But Campbell, while saying he was "very proud to be a Republican," also made it clear he did not intend to abandon his support for some causes, such as abortion rights, that are opposed by most GOP lawmakers.

"I can no longer represent the agenda put forth by the (Democratic) Party, although I certainly agree with many of the things that the Democrats stand for," said Campbell, who lines up slightly to the right of most Democrats in rankings of senators' ideological leanings. "I have always been considered a moderate to the consternation of the left wing of the Democratic Party. I imagine my continued moderation will now be a consternation to the right wing of the Republicans," he added, signalling he will join the party's small moderate wing in the Senate.

Among other things, Campbell said, he will fight Republican-proposed abandonment of the federal school lunch program, noting a school lunch was often "the only meal I got when I was a kid."

https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1995-03-04-3017960-story.html

And the year before, current sitting Alabama Senator Richard Shelby (who announced he is retiring when his term is up in 2022) had done the same -

UPI Archives Nov. 9, 1994

Shelby switches to Republican party

By PAUL BASKEN

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 -- Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, a conservative Democrat who often voted with Republicans, switched parties Wednesday in the aftermath of the sweeping GOP victory in Tuesday's congressional elections. Shelby, announcing a move long suspected that he would make, particularly if the GOP did well this this year's midterm vote, said he was becoming a Republican because there was no longer room for him in the Democratic Party. 'Officially, right now, I am changing parties to a party of hope,' Shelby told a Capitol Hill news conference.

His decision, following the GOP's capture of eight Democrat-held seats in Tuesday's elections, boosted the new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate to 53-47. Shelby, 60, said Wednesday he had tried working within the Democratic Party during his eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate.

'It has been frustrating because I thought there was room in the Democratic Party for a conservative southern Democrat such as myself,' said Shelby, whose votes last year earned a 64 percent approval rating by the American Conservative Union and a 35 percent approval rating by the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. 'But I can tell you there is not,' said Shelby, who has gained a reputation in Congress as an advocate of single parents, veterans and the elderly. 'There is not room.'

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas quickly welcomed the move and said: 'We're still accepting applications.' Dole told a news conference he couldn't predict what would happen to Shelby in terms of committee assignments and a chairmanship, but he indicated the Alabama senator would get no special privileges.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/11/09/Shelby-switches-to-Republican-party/5726784357200/

[ancianita]

10. Which shows

how frustrated and wishful thinking I am because this slim majority seems so fraught and fragile, and I feel drained from the last four years. This bare minimum majority feels like a setup for futility, unless Democrats turning out in 2020 show even more effort, given greater voter restrictions, to do the same in 2022.

Thanks for the map of reality. Much as I admire Pelosi and Schumer, I can't see how Schumer's going to move legislation. But they deserve all honor and respect for how hard they've worked and are willing to grind this out.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I wished that we had won the seats in Maine and North Carolina

which were a little easier than Kentucky & South Carolina, and that would have perhaps provided the 2-vote margin should a Manchin or Sinema need an out.

It's been 7 years since Democrats had control of the Senate, so it behooves that we work on keeping it, which would run against a precedence of a President's party losing seats in a mid-term... but then our current President and Vice President are definitely a precedence-breaking pair!