The cold hard fact is that in order to create positive and progressive laws it is necessary to control both houses of congress and the executive. That is true because the forces of the current wealthy and powerful do not want any progress. They want all to stay as it is because as long as that is the case, they will be the wealthy and the powerful and all the rest will be the serfs. "We don't need no stinkin' change."
In the forthcoming situation the House of Representatives can de-fund the progress already made and stop any attempt that the president and the senate might make to take the nation and the people forward. That is also true, as we have seen, if the bad guys own the senate. Any of the 3 bodies can block progress, but the House can actually destroy the government entirely. And that is the real Republican objective.
The president can use a veto pen to stop NEW laws from taking effect. But he cannot create NEW laws. The Senate can block initiatives arising from the House, but the senate cannot appropriate funds. The filibuster should have been nuked on day one of the new Democratic congress on 2009. But that didn't happen and here we are. The Republicans have used the lack of progress (caused by them) to indict the Democrats and take over the House of Representatives. And you will all learn that the House of Representatives is the true seat of power in this nation BY DESIGN.
We have about 4 or 5 weeks (I know not the total of congressional time left before the end of the year) to nuke the filibuster and pass all the required legislation to save this nation. That legislation will include a budget for next year that provides proper funding for stimulus and the new health care laws while terminating the tax cuts for the rich. There is also the OPTION to "BUY IN" to Medicare that needs to be done.
The nuking of the filibuster MUST be done NOW. The Senate currently contains the magic number 50 real are Democrats. After the first of the year there will be 53 Democrats. LIEberman, Nelson, and Baukus will be the only remaining Republicans in the Democratic Caucus and the vice president gets to break a tie. Unfortunately, if we wait until next year, the nation will be destroyed by the Republican House of Representatives no matter what happens in the Senate.
NOW IS THE TIME. If we assume that every defeated Democrat (Lincoln, et al) will vote with the Republicans (there are 6 defeated and I don't think Feingold is a Republican) and that LIEberman, Nelson, and Baukus help them, them, then that still creates a tie and VP Biden breaks the tie. Besides, until the NEW congressional session, the House can't get us.
JUST DO IT!!
The point is that the Senate cannot constitute itself a continuing body for the purpose of binding the current congressional session to the rules of the previous session. The Senate may informally conduct its business respecting the rules laid down by the previous legislature until any member raises a point of order concerning the informality. For the purpose of rule making that binds the current legislative session, such rule making or adoption must be accomplished by formal simple majority vote. For according to the Constitutionally implied prohibition against entrenchment, a previous legislature cannot bind any future legislature. That is what my copy of the Constitution says.
Therefore: Every Senator is failing in that Senator's oath to protect and defend the Constitution if the Senator does not raise a point of order concerning the rules. And the Senate is conducting its business unconstitutionally if the rules are not properly sanctified for the current session. And the rules must be adopted on an up and down vote because until that is done for the current session THERE AIN'T NO RULES. The House does this at the beginning of each session. The Democratic Senators nor the Democratic party should be excused for allowing the minority Republicans to continue to obstruct the proceedings of the Senate.
THE TIME US NOW!!!