Leaked draft says that Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v Wade

[Poptart]

Did Democrats do anything to protect abortion by an actual law any time they've had a majority since Roe? No. They've had much more important priorities, like giving $40 billion to Ukraine so more Ukrainians would die in an unwinnable war, and singing God Bless America after the SCOTUS ruling.

Senate breakdown:
- 50 democrats
- 50 republicans
- 1 Kamala Harris tiebreaker

The senate attempted to pass abortion rights legislation earlier this year, but Joe Manchin is a pro-life democrat, and he voted against the bill. The final tally was 51-49.

Democrats could have acted (and maybe should have?) from the start of Biden’s term. Senators have fixed stances on abortion, so I’m not sure that the results of an earlier vote would have been any different. It’s possible that the Democrats were waiting for an opportune moment (one with max political pressure on Manchin) to vote on the bill.

As for anytime before that—any conservative majority Regan or later would have repealed a Roe law. And let’s be honest, an abortion rights law during the early Obama years would have been a political suicide mission for democrats, who were scrambling to pass Obamacare during this time. I think you were pretty young, so I’m not sure if you remember, but Obamacare mandated insurance companies to cover birth control for women. There was a huge backlash from conservatives, and religious organizations felt especially oppressed by the mandate lol.

I think the senate still has a shot at passing legislation if democrats manage to get buy-in from Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins (pro-choice republicans). I dunno, maybe I’m just feeling pessimistic because I’m not holding my breath for a compromise and sort of expect that the Supreme Court would say it’s unconstitutional anyway.

[FreelancePoliceman]

Senate breakdown:
- 50 democrats
- 50 republicans
- 1 Kamala Harris tiebreaker

The senate attempted to pass abortion rights legislation earlier this year, but Joe Manchin is a pro-life democrat, and he voted against the bill. The final tally was 51-49.

Democrats could have acted (and maybe should have?) from the start of Biden’s term. Senators have fixed stances on abortion, so I’m not sure that the results of an earlier vote would have been any different. It’s possible that the Democrats were waiting for an opportune moment (one with max political pressure on Manchin) to vote on the bill.

As for anytime before that—any conservative majority Regan or later would have repealed a Roe law. And let’s be honest, an abortion rights law during the early Obama years would have been a political suicide mission for democrats, who were scrambling to pass Obamacare during this time. I think you were pretty young, so I’m not sure if you remember, but Obamacare mandated insurance companies to cover birth control for women. There was a huge backlash from conservatives, and religious organizations felt especially oppressed by the mandate lol.

I think the senate still has a shot at passing legislation if democrats manage to get buy-in from Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins (pro-choice republicans). I dunno, maybe I’m just feeling pessimistic because I’m not holding my breath for a compromise and sort of expect that the Supreme Court would say it’s unconstitutional anyway.

Have you ever noticed how the Democrats are always exactly 1-2 senators short of passing any progressive legislation? If the Senate were 100% Democrats, 51 of them would vote against raising the minimum wage. There is always an excuse why they never do anything they claim they want to do. Yeah, with 49 senators I'm sure there's literally nothing they could do to reach a compromise over abortion, raise minimum wage, address skyrocketing housing costs, defang insurance companies (instead the ACA was just an enormous handout to them), and it's always supposedly because of Republicans + whatever number of conservative Democrats is needed to make sure this never happens. But when it's Ukraine or Israel or Saudi Arabia, sure lol, no questions asked, no cost is too great. It's only the people Democrats ostensibly represent they're unable to do anything for.

[Poptart]

Have you ever noticed how the Democrats are always exactly 1-2 senators short of passing any progressive legislation? If the Senate were 100% Democrats, 51 of them would vote against raising the minimum wage. There is always an excuse why they never do anything they claim they want to do. Yeah, with 49 senators I'm sure there's literally nothing they could do to reach a compromise over abortion, raise minimum wage, address skyrocketing housing costs, defang insurance companies (instead the ACA was just an enormous handout to them), and it's always supposedly because of Republicans + whatever number of conservative Democrats is needed to make sure this never happens. But when it's Ukraine or Israel or Saudi Arabia, sure lol, no questions asked, no cost is too great. It's only for the people Democrats ostensibly represent they're unable to do anything for.

I forgot about the filibuster, so they actually needed 60 to pass, not 50. They could get rid of the filibuster with 50 votes and then pass the bill with 50 votes, but believe it or not, they’re 2 votes shy of removing the filibuster lol (:

And yes, I’ve noticed that democrats are always 1-2 votes short. Literally there’s a tie in the senate (50 R, 50 D), so of course it only takes 1 rogue democrat to destroy a majority vote.

So I just looked up a minimum wage map—thanks for that wake up call. How on earth does Texas still have a min. wage of $7.25?! Wtf that’s not even close to a livable wage!! And all of these other states in the South and Midwest are still at $7.25/hr. It actually looks quite a bit like the abortion ban map. States that refuse to raise their minimum wage happen to be the same states banning abortion. I hope congress acts to raise the minimum wage soon, especially with prices being so high now. People in these areas must know that states pass minimum wage legislation, so how do governors get away with this?