The Senate is supposed to negotiate with the White House and change bills after they are approved by the House and sent for approval...?

A.J.

My complex view, and I believe you are smart enough to understand, whether you agree totally or not... The Suffocation of Democracy - Christopher R. Browning https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/10/25/suffocation-of-democracy/ A leading Holocaust historian just compared the US to Nazi Germany Historian of Nazism Explains Why GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell Is the ‘Gravedigger of American Democracy’ https://www.alternet.org/2018/10/historian-nazism-explains-why-gop-senate-leader-mitch-mcconnell-gravedigger/ https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian There are other reports about the book, and the author has spoken also. Both Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are equally responsible for this mess. The one line short form of government-- By process, the House and Senate need to pass identical legislation and a President approve and a veto override is 2/3 of House and Senate. House or Senate pass a bill, or similar bills, and a joint committee makes changes that then has to be approved again and signed. McConnell is Majority Party leader in the Senate and can either help or subvert the process. Pelosi can now do the same things in the House Spending bills officially all start in the House, but often a President creates a budget to hand to the House to work on it. Now, Mitch McConnell may be blocking the majority wishes of Senators of his own party in favor of what the President wants. Majority and Minority leaders-- https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Majority_Minority_Leaders.htm I don't know how a Party of the Senate deposes and replaces their speaker/leader There is also a post called Whip that is supposed to get people in line. [whipping post - like my verbage?] "However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion." - George Washington, Farewell Address | Saturday, September 17, 1796 As you mention Mitch McConnell you begin to see my point of view, that it is Political Parties and politics that bring us to disaster as George Washington warned. Some people are Democrats, Some are Republicans, Some are other party, and I find all Parties to be a mess and want power balanced, just as checks and balances between branches of government. The worst results are either party in power. Add on a total nut job like Donald Trump as President, and a Mitch McConnell who I cannot figure out why he is doing what he does and we are crashing into oblivion as a nation. Notation add - 53 Senators are Republican. Suppose 26 would agree with 47 Democrats. 27 Still have Party control backing McConnell who can quash legislation. It would take severe action to override McConnell.

sam

vote better

Lolly

He is obligated to Putin; he has taken millions. He's a traitor.

TicToc....

What people fail to understand is that the people in Washington who have all the power, don't care what we want. It's only what they want, that matters. However, in this particular case, I agree with Mitch, because he knows exactly what the art of the deal is which is "No Compromise on the wall".

Bill

What part of we will have a wall or the government will stay shut down do you not understand?

Jeffrey

No, it doesn't work that way. If the Senate changes a bill passed by the House it has to be sent back to the House for approval of the changes. Once they both agree on the same wording it is sent to the President. McConnell would have loved to have a vote taken on the House bill but Schumer and the democrats used the rules to prevent the vote from being taken. Why would he do that unless he knew the bill would pass if the vote was taken. Is that democracy?