#u.s. senate

[saywhat-politics]

MAGA is big mad that Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats have opened up a whistleblower portal for federal employees to report illegal conduct within the Trump administration.

[deadpresidents]

Congratulations, America. It looks like Republicans will definitely win the Senate, which will allow a Republican President to push through judicial appointments much more easily, and the next President will probably appoint at least two Supreme Court justices. That's going to directly impact your life for the rest of your lives. Remember how I always say ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES? These were always the consequences.

[eugenedebs1920]

My god is tubberville dumb as a box of rocks! Trigon!? F*ckin trigon?!! You mean triangle? If anyone ever questioned whether they were smart enough to make a difference in this country, just remember Tommy Tuberville is a United States senator.

Also… Cmon Alabama! Are you trying to live up to the stereotypes about you. PICK BETTER REPRESENTATION!!! Jeeze!…

[martyr-mayhem]

Al Green is a real one!!! Too bad the Dems didn't have spines to join him. They just held up sad little signs while Al Green showed real courage 🙄

Btw, I seem to remember a bleach blonde bad built butch body (Marjorie Taylor Green) doing the same thing to Biden and NOT getting kicked out... The hypocrisy is unreal.

[anonymousaccount1015]

2026 Senate elections

Very early impressions for the 2026 Senate elections are that Ossoff (D) in Georgia, Collins (R) in Maine, and Tillis (R) in North Carolina will be the closest contested seats. If Senate Democrats are able to sweep all three, this won’t immediately win them the Senate back (it would go 49-51 best case scenario, assuming no other flips).

Here are states that we have to retain.

Peters (D) in Michigan is retiring which leaves a vacant Democratic seat in a state that Trump won. Peters (D) in Michigan, as well as Smith (D) in Minnesota, had very underwhelming performances the last time their seats were up. Peters (D) kind of leaves office partly disgraced, given he oversaw the unfortunate circumstances on the Senate map in 2024 (particularly regional upsets in Ohio, with Sherrod Brown, and especially Pennsylvania).

I’m unsure who runs to replace Peters, though I feel pretty optimistic about the field that’s forming to replace Smith, especially current Lieutenant Governor Flanagan.

Hassan (D) in New Hampshire is the third confirmed Democratic retirement. This was a state which Harris still managed to carry but was unexpectedly close (given the national conditions). She’s likely made the political calculation that her reelection would be kind of an uphill battle.

[luckydiorxoxo]

It's official: For the first time, the U.S. Senate has two Black women as members.

Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware have just been sworn in as part of the 119th Congress.

[ivygorgon]

An open letter to the U.S. Senate

Vote NO on Project 2025 author Russell Vought for OMB!

9,081 so far! Help us get to 10,000 signers!

I’m a constituent writing to say that I’m outraged that Trump is working with Elon Musk to shut down the functions of our federal government. I’m also furious about the attempts to “freeze” federal spending. And I know that all of this goes straight back to Trump’s nominee for OMB Director, Russell Vought. If confirmed, moreover, I know that Vought will further enable Trump’s and Musk’s unconstitutional power grab.

Vought has made it clear in his confirmation hearings that his allegiance is to Trump and not to our Constitution. If he is put in charge of OMB, he will greenlight Trump and Musk’s coup which would cause devastating harm to millions of people in our communities.

Please stand up against Trump’s assault on our democracy. I expect the Senator to call for Vought’s nomination to be withdrawn and to vote NO if his confirmation moves forward. Remember that you work for us. Thanks.

▶ Created on February 4 by Jess Craven · 9,080 signers in the past 7 days

📱 Text SIGN PYEICM to 50409 to sign!

🤯 Text FOLLOW JESSCRAVEN101 to 50409

[thegayhimbo]

The New York Times: Senate Approves Aid for Ukraine and Israel, Sending It to Biden's Desk

[saywhat-politics]

Dear Democratic Leaders: here’s a free idea, send members of congress into the buildings where Elons people are and see what they’re doing. Dare them to stop you.

Do something

[deadpresidents]

Is there a chance that many of these cabinet picks don't get confirmed?

Don't forget that this country not only gave the Republicans control of the White House, but they also gave them a Senate majority and most likely will end up keeping them in charge of the House of Representatives, so they don't need a single Democrat to confirm ANY of these awful Cabinet appointments. The best possible hope is for some of the handful of Senate Republicans who are moderate-ish or still have a few ounces of integrity to oppose some of the crazier appointees. And there are going to be even less of those Senators left after January 3rd.

But this country, in its infinite fucking wisdom, gave Trump and the GOP a mandate, so they can pretty much do what they are planning on doing. That's why we spent the past couple of years reminding people how important the 2024 election was going to be for the rest of our lives. It's not like we can turn to the courts for help; Trump has locked down the judiciary for decades, as well, especially the Supreme Court.

And, here's the thing: I'm sure Trump realizes that it's pretty unlikely that Gaetz can get confirmed as Attorney General because he's enormously unpopular with his own colleagues in the GOP. A lot of Congressional Republicans despise him, and it's not even like with how most people in Congress hate Ted Cruz but grudgingly point out that he's effective at his job and actually a pretty smart dude. With Gaetz, they just think he's a clown and are happy to be rid of him. You can bet that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is going to put all of his efforts into defeating a possible confirmation of Gaetz as AG, and McCarthy still has significant influence in Congress because of his record as a major fundraiser for candidates in both chambers.

I bet Trump is throwing a couple of nominees out there that he knows can't get confirmed -- like Gaetz -- to make it easier to get potentially hesitant Republicans to confirm other controversial nominees, like Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary (!). It's like when Pablo Escobar would import a bunch of cocaine into the United States that he knew was going to get seized in order to sneak tons of it through sneakier means. They are decoy douchebags to distract from the other douchebags he's also putting into the Cabinet.

[thepopculturearchivist]

From a debate on censoring literature. TIME, March 31, 1930

[martyr-mayhem]

GOALS FOR THE CONGRESSIONAL RECESS AND WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Make Republicans hold a town hall. Every Republican owes their constituents answers for why they’re willing to risk a government shutdown to enable Trump and Musk’s power grab, and why they support ripping away Medicaid and other essential programs. If they truly believe that their MAGA agenda will benefit our country, they should be eager to face the people they claim to fight for at a public town hall.

If they won’t hold a town hall, turn their silence into a story. Even if Republican MoCs go out of their way to avoid public confrontation during this recess, we’ll be organizing hard-hitting events in their district, with or without them.

Expose their government funding deal for what it truly is: a tax break on the backs of their own constituents. They’re planning to slash funding to Medicaid, SNAP, early education, housing assistance, and countless other programs that working families rely on in order to give the wealthiest massive handouts. It’s up to us to tell their constituents the truth about this outrageous betrayal so Republicans are forced to own the public backlash.

Call out their corrupt alliance with Musk. Republicans are enabling Musk to make decisions and push policies that directly hurt working families while enriching billionaires like himself. We cannot allow Republicans to abandon their responsibility to uphold our constitution and serve their constituents in order to curry favor with Musk.

Call on Democrats to hold a town hall. We need Democrats to demonstrate to their constituents that they’re doing everything they can to block, obstruct and disrupt Republicans’ plans to ram through the Trump Tax Scam.

Call out any missing-in-action Democrats who refuse to host a town hall. Democrats who aren’t boldly speaking out and engaging their communities this recess must be put on notice.

Ensure that Democrats publicly hold the line on government funding. Democrats must not support anything beyond a clean, two-week continuing resolution — keeping the government open without giving Trump and Musk a blank check — until Republicans agree to their terms:

Reject extreme funding cuts and MAGA poison pills attacking abortion rights, LGBTQ+ protections, and immigrant communities.

Include real, ironclad protections to stop Trump and Musk from hijacking federal spending.

[griseldagimpel]

Right, so U.S. government is really fucked, but one thing that would make it less fucked is if the Democrats ditched the legislative filibuster.

It didn't use to be an issue but after Obama got elected, Republicans started filibustering everything the Democrats try to pass.

Now, there are downsides to ditching the filibuster, since it's a tool Democrats also use occasionally, but on the whole, it would benefit progressive causes, since there's a lot that needs to be changed in the U.S. government. Republicans are happy to be the party of obstinacy.

The other downside is that ditching the filibuster risks a backlash against the Democratic Party. Like I said in a recent post, the Republican Party represents the interests of the wealthy, which means the Republican Party has more money to throw around and control the narrative. (Republicans ditched the filibuster for judges back during Trump's term because they wanted to put a shitty judge on the Supreme Court. No backlash against them.)

Anyway, primaries for Senate candidates are coming up in Florida (and probably some other states, but primary schedules vary at a state level, and I don't know them all). This issue - would you support ditching the legislative filibuster - is something to press them on.

[pythiaswine]

"i dont want to vote trump or biden bc they both suck" VOTE THIRD PARTY THEN!! If we don't all do it, it reinforces the idea that our votes don't matter. if you vote for one over the other, they think they can get away w the two party system. if you don't vote at all, they won't even know the difference because they'll still have a winner and no third-party contenders. if you want the electoral college gone, VOTE THIRD PARTY! they won't listen until we make them. this is called political efficacy. stop believing it's hopeless bc that is how they have the power to keep making decisions that the people don't agree with.