WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:07.240 Ending the filibuster. Willingness to end the filibuster is maybe 2 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:13.679 the biggest single issue in the presidential election that nobody's 3 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:23.440 talking about. It is the thing, maybe the single greatest 4 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:33.399 instance of the imbalanced will between Democrats and their willingness 5 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:36.240 to get stuff done versus Republicans and their willingness to 6 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:44.600 get stuff done. Consequences be darned. Let's talk about what 7 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:51.640 this means. Just a few days ago, Kamala Harris said 8 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:58.159 in an interview to Wisconsin Public Radio that she supports 9 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:05.319 ending the Senate filibuster in order to pass nationwide abortion legislation. 10 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:10.000 So we used to have basically a nationwide rule for 11 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:12.480 abortion that was laid down in Roe versus. Wade and 12 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:16.120 then subsequently planned Parent versus Casey, that basically said abortion 13 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:23.840 is legal throughout pregnancy. Since Roe was overturned, individual states 14 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:28.040 can pass their own laws restricting abortion however they want. 15 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:33.599 Harris wants to pass a nationwide law, a normal statute 16 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:36.040 passed by Congress, majority of the House, majority in the Senate. 17 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:42.599 President signs it, reinstituting basically a federal standard for all 18 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:48.120 abortion regulation to permit abortion very broadly. It'll override all 19 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:50.079 of the current state laws that are on the books 20 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:54.439 limiting abortion. So in Texas abortion is illegal. This would 21 00:01:54.439 --> 00:02:05.400 purportedly override Texas's law. Now to do it, Harris realizes 22 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.240 she would need to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate, 23 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:10.599 and that's what she's going to do. So let me 24 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:19.319 explain what the filibuster is and what its function is. Now, 25 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.919 we know kind of the basic rule for how you 26 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:26.599 pass laws in Congress, majority of the House, majority of 27 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:34.759 the Senate, President signs it. But over time, over the centuries, 28 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:39.759 then this isn't part of the Constitution itself, but it's 29 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:46.639 a tradition. It's a standard for how business in Washington 30 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.599 gets conducted that sort of grew over time. It's a 31 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:53.680 Norman or a convention that has some importance to it 32 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:58.680 and that people have for decades thought had value until 33 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:06.199 Democrats of last four or five years started to really 34 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:09.639 want to pursue their short term goals, which is the 35 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:14.039 filibuster rule. So the House and the Senate are two 36 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:17.000 different kinds of things. They're two different kinds of entities, 37 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:20.199 they reflect different kinds of values. The House is supposed 38 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:24.840 to be reflective of the immediate will of the majority 39 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:28.199 of the Democrat the majority of the American people in 40 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:33.000 a more democratic way, a more genuinely democratic fashion. It's 41 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.159 a democratic institution, meaning it's supposed to be kind of 42 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:40.759 like a microcosm of the country as a whole. All 43 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:43.800 of the hundreds of members of the House of Representatives 44 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:51.080 get put to re election every two years, so within 45 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.120 a two year stretch, the makeup of the House of 46 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:57.599 Representatives can wildly change. There are so many members of 47 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.039 the House of Representatives that debate gets limited. Everyone only 48 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:02.800 has a certain amount of time that that's sort of 49 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:06.960 internally how the House of Representatives is governed. House of 50 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:11.719 Representatives is a bit more ruckus, a bit more wild 51 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:14.960 and crazy, subject to the wins of day to day 52 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:22.480 political turbulence. The Senate, though, is something different. Even though 53 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:25.279 senators today are directly elected by the people of the 54 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:29.399 states they represent, that wasn't in the original design of 55 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:34.439 the Constitution as it was ratified in seventeen ninety. As 56 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:41.040 it was ratified in the seventeen eighties, the original idea 57 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:43.560 for senators was that they would be elected by the 58 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:48.319 state legislatures, so there was a kind of a distance 59 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:54.319 between US senators and the states they represented. Senators were 60 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:58.120 thought to represent the states more so than individual people. 61 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:03.720 In a sense, they were responsive to the state legislators 62 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:10.639 who put them in office. Now, over time that changed. 63 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:18.680 The constitution got amended such that people, individual voters elect 64 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.879 their US Senators. But the Senate is still kind of 65 00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:24.959 a different institution from the House. Its members have very 66 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:27.879 long terms of office. They're in office for six years. 67 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:33.680 The Senate doesn't have as much turnover year over year 68 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:36.959 as the House of Representatives does. It has fewer members, 69 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:41.639 and debate in the Senate is allowed to go on 70 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:46.680 theoretically forever. There's no limitations on debate. The sent of 71 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:51.720 views itself as this great deliberative body, and that's kind 72 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:54.800 of its character. Its character is different from the House 73 00:05:54.800 --> 00:06:01.199 of Representatives. It represents different kinds of values, the importance 74 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:07.240 the priorities of the states as individual entities. Every state 75 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:10.279 gets two members, doesn't matter if you're California or Wyoming, 76 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:16.639 you get two members. And what developed over time in 77 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:20.639 the Senate was again this idea that you can theoretically 78 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:26.439 debate forever. Well, what happens when you know Robert Bird 79 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:30.399 or strom Thurmond come up there and they start filibustering, 80 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:33.800 which means talking and talking and talking and talking and 81 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:38.079 debating and debating and debating just as a dilatory tactic, 82 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:42.800 as a way to delay and prevent a vote on something. Well. 83 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:46.360 You Eventually, the Senate came up with this concept of 84 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:52.240 invoking cloture cloture c l O t U R, which 85 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:59.040 means the closing of debate. So as long as sixty 86 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.800 of the one hundred senators vote cloture, you can stop 87 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.040 debate and you can vote on something. Well, that became 88 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:08.480 sort of the way to advance legislation effectively. What it 89 00:07:08.519 --> 00:07:14.279 means is that in the Senate, to advance most pieces 90 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:18.800 of legislation in the Senate, you can't just pass it 91 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:22.079 with a fifty vote plus a tiebreaker or a fifty 92 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:30.639 one vote majority. You need sixty votes. Now, there are 93 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:34.680 certain budgetary things for which this isn't true. The budget 94 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:38.759 reconciliation process allows you to pass things with just a 95 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:43.319 simple majority fifty votes. And that's how, for example, in 96 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:45.680 the Trump in the first Trump administration, that's how the 97 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:47.040 tax cuts were able to get pass. A lot of 98 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:49.160 stuff was able to get passed by getting it shoved 99 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:53.879 into the budget reconciliation process. But for the most part, 100 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:57.560 especially with like controversial pieces of social legislation, like this 101 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:02.480 idea of passing a nationwide abortion law, you need sixty votes, 102 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:08.240 not fifty. Now, this could change if the Senate changes 103 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:12.079 its own internal rules again, this sixty vote cloture thing, 104 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:16.399 this is an internal Senate governance rule. If the Senate 105 00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:18.680 wants it can change its rules and say, well, to 106 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:21.800 invote culture, you actually need fifty five votes, or to 107 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:26.160 invote cloture, you just need fifty one votes. To close debate, 108 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:34.000 you just need fifty one votes. Kamala Harris announcing that 109 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:38.879 she will push for the Senate to get rid of 110 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:46.120 the filibuster rule to pass abortion legislation represents that the 111 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:50.639 Democrats have this sort of there's this imbalance, there's this 112 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:54.600 imbalance between the two parties as relating to how far 113 00:08:55.159 --> 00:09:01.720 they are willing to go to accomplish their goals. Harris, 114 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:06.120 when she was in the Senate and was in the 115 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:10.120 minority back in twenty seventeen, talked about how all the 116 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:15.080 philibuster rule in the Senate's so important now as she's 117 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:18.639 facing the prospect of, well, maybe I could be elected 118 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:21.679 president and maybe the Democrats would have a majority in 119 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:27.480 the Senate. In the House, maybe we should break the 120 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:29.600 philibuster rule and the way the Democrats have done it 121 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:35.279 is so dishonest. Basically, this happened during the Biden administration. 122 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:40.519 The Democrats had this. They had two pieces of legislation 123 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:46.080 I think one was this Voting Standards Act, where basically 124 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:50.639 they wanted to export all of California's election law, ballot stuff, 125 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:55.200 how you're early voting ballots, ballot harvesting all that. They 126 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:00.320 wanted to export all of California's voting laws to the 127 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.120 whole country, you know, getting rid of voter id et cetera. 128 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:06.879 And so oh, this is so important, this is so 129 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:09.240 important that we should get rid of the We should 130 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:12.320 get rid of the filibuster rule in the Senate. We 131 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:14.480 should get rid of the sixty vote threshold in the Senate. 132 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:19.320 Just for this though, really to for that is that 133 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:23.799 so important a thing. It's about the right to vote. 134 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:27.279 Everyone has the right to vote. Some states have different 135 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:30.279 kind of standards for like how you do these things. 136 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.480 You're acting like if someone doesn't have the ability to 137 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:39.320 do you know, no id early mail in without you know, 138 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:43.480 needing absentee ballot like like the idea that all these 139 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:48.679 voting conventions that we that nobody used circa twenty twelve, 140 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.840 that that was the core of the American right to vote, 141 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:53.720 and if you don't support it, then you don't support 142 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:57.200 the right to vote, which is which is absurd. So 143 00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:59.320 they were willing to get rid of the filibuster for that. 144 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:02.919 Of course, they're willing to get rid of the philibuster 145 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:14.639 for the sake of reinstituting Roe v. Wade by different means. Now, 146 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:19.559 when this was tried early in the Biden administration, when 147 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:24.960 there was Democrat majorities in the House, the Senate and 148 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.080 Biden in the White House. Now, the problem for the 149 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:30.320 Democrats was it was a fifty to fifty Senate with 150 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:35.879 Harris as the tiebreaker and Joe Manchin, the Democrat senator 151 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:40.519 from West Virginia, and Kirsten Cinema, the Democrat senator from Arizona. 152 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:46.759 They both agreed that the philibuster rule was important. They 153 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:49.600 both said, listen, we can't get rid of the philibuster 154 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:52.879 rule just for this. If we get rid of the 155 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:58.159 filibuster rule now for this, then Republicans will get rid 156 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:01.399 of the philibuster rule. When they someday come to power 157 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.919 and they will crush us. We can't. We're not ready 158 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:08.600 as a country for the kind of winner take all 159 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:13.120 style politics that would then ensue. We would basically become 160 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.720 We could then wind up becoming almost like a parliamentary system, 161 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:23.159 where like, for example, in the UK, the UK is 162 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:26.000 basically imagine if the country was just governed by the 163 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.039 House of Representatives or some kind of weird combo of 164 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:32.240 the House or the House in the Senate. In a 165 00:12:32.279 --> 00:12:35.799 parliamentary system, it's kind of winner take all. Once one 166 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:42.200 party or coalition of parties gains power and picks their 167 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:48.840 prime minister, they have the votes to get their entire 168 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:57.000 agenda passed so they can reshape the whole country, you know, 169 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:03.799 like that. And what Cinema and Mansion have been arguing 170 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:05.639 from the Democrat side, and they were the only ones 171 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:10.840 when Biden was trying to get that voting rights bill passed, 172 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:12.440 and then later when he was trying to get this 173 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:16.000 same bill that Harris is talking about to basically reinstate 174 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:18.440 nationwide legal abortion. They were trying to get those two 175 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:23.639 bills passed. Forty eight out of the fifty Democrat senators 176 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:27.879 senators were okay with abolishing the filibuster. Oh, just for 177 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:31.480 that though, just for that, just for this, because it's 178 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:35.639 so important if you get rid of the filibuster, just 179 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:38.120 for quote the things that are important, and you can 180 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:46.759 talk yourself into everything being that important. I mean, Oh, 181 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:49.720 you don't think veterans are important enough to break the 182 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:52.399 philibuster for Oh, of course, we love our veterans. Oh 183 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.960 you don't think healthcare is important enough to break the 184 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.639 fill Oh, yes, healthcare is so important. I mean once 185 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:06.679 you basically, once you take that step, it's over. Once 186 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:09.000 you take the step of we have a filibuster rule 187 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:12.159 in the Senate except for things that the party in 188 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:16.600 power thinks is really really really important, then you don't 189 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:21.320 have a filibuster rule anymore, and the minority party will 190 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:23.440 never be able to block anything that the majority wants 191 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:30.720 to do. So the president. Clear Now, Biden was always 192 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:34.840 wishy washy about this because Biden, well, first of all, 193 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:39.120 because how mentally with it is Biden. But secondly, Biden's 194 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:45.759 whole career in the Senate for thirty plus years and 195 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:50.279 his entire time as Vice president, he always was upholding 196 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:56.799 this kind of Senate conventional Democrat wisdom. The filibuster was always, 197 00:14:56.840 --> 00:15:00.759 in his eyes important. When George W. Bush had Republican House, 198 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:04.679 Republican Senate, and himself in the White House, Senator Biden 199 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.360 was ranting and raving about how important the filibuster rule 200 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:11.279 is and how terrible a thing it would be if 201 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:14.000 George W. Bush tried to pack the Supreme Court and 202 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:19.440 all these sort of basic governing conventions that we hold 203 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:24.559 to in America. The hour, you know, the Romans would 204 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:28.120 call this the most majorum the way of the ancestors. 205 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:33.080 It's not necessarily something that's etched into American law, but 206 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.799 this is the inherited wisdom we have received for how 207 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:42.759 we should govern in a way that provides stability. Biden 208 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:50.600 believed in all that stuff, but is now the figurehead 209 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:58.240 for a Democrat regime that is so desperate to make 210 00:15:58.279 --> 00:16:02.440 sure that babies can legally be killed in Texas that 211 00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:05.960 it's willing to break all convention to make it. So. 212 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:10.879 This is the biggest issue I think that nobody's talking about, 213 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:12.919 and when we return, I want to talk about why 214 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:18.120 aren't Republicans talking about the same thing. Next on the 215 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:24.080 John Girardi Show, Kamala Harris announced that she is willing 216 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:26.960 to get rid of, or push for the Senate rather 217 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:30.440 to get rid of the filibuster rule, which is their 218 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:35.159 normal sixty vote threshold to pass big legislation, most kinds 219 00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:40.440 of legislation in America. In Congress. It's not that you 220 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.960 need a majority in the Senate, that's the constitutional standard, 221 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:46.879 but within the Senate's internal rules, basically you need sixty 222 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.480 votes to advance it, you need sixty votes to end 223 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:52.600 debate on the subject, which effectively means you need sixty 224 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:58.720 votes to pass most kinds of legislation. This is kind 225 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:02.960 of a damp and moderating tool that basically means, hey, 226 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.319 unless there's pretty broad consensus, we're not going to pass 227 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:13.079 really big time significant national legislation. And Democrats have expressed 228 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:17.319 this willingness to get rid of the filibuster rule, at 229 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:23.640 least for the sake of passing a nationwide abortion permission, 230 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:26.480 basically a nationwide law to shut down all of the 231 00:17:26.519 --> 00:17:31.319 state laws regulating abortion right now. But that's the thing is, 232 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:35.440 the Democrats' standard seems to be, we support the filibuster. 233 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.240 We always support the philibuster. When we're in the minority, 234 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:43.160 we support the filibuster. But unless we want to pass 235 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:48.759 something really important that we really want, which effectively means 236 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:55.880 they don't support the filibuster. Now, this is real, revealing 237 00:17:55.960 --> 00:18:00.519 a kind of imbalance in political will. Democrats are willing 238 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:05.519 to go to this extreme to get stuff done that 239 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:10.519 they want to do. Republicans are only willing to go 240 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:14.000 this far though. Republicans are not willing to touch the 241 00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:18.200 philibuster rule. All these Republicans are on the record now, 242 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.440 in fairness, all these Democrats were on the record just 243 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.680 a few years ago. That doesn't stop them from being 244 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:28.960 totally inconsistent and hypocritical. But Republicans have been, you know, 245 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:37.160 pledging allegiance to the filibuster. I wonder if Republicans should 246 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:42.480 start saying, hey, if that's the way they're gonna play, 247 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:47.599 maybe we need to play by those rules too, because 248 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:50.920 I don't think you want to be the second person 249 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:55.759 to try to pass legislation in the Senate without the philibuster. 250 00:18:55.880 --> 00:19:00.000 You might not get the chance. Here's why, let's suppor 251 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:06.319 it's a doomsday scenario for Republicans this upcoming November fifth, 252 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:12.440 Harris wins. Democrats take the House, Democrats somehow take the Senate. 253 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:14.920 I don't know that that's really possible, given kind of 254 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:17.359 the map and the layout, and the certainty that Republicans 255 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:20.000 will pick up at least two seats. There are two 256 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:25.480 Democrat seats that Republicans are certainly picking up. But okay, 257 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:32.039 let's say something crazy happens and Democrats get all three. 258 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:41.240 If Democrats get all three House, Senate, White House, they 259 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:49.039 could pass a law to make Guam a new American state. 260 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:54.960 Guam is very liberal. Gwam would pretty much guarantee two 261 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.880 additional votes in the US Senate for Democrats. They could 262 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:04.039 pass a law to make Puerto Rico and DC into 263 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:09.680 new American states. They would be pretty left wing. Each 264 00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:13.480 one would give the Democrats two more votes in the 265 00:20:13.559 --> 00:20:16.200 US Senate, probably a couple more votes in the House 266 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:25.640 of Representatives too, And those are the easy ones. Why 267 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:30.240 couldn't you know, you know, let's get the California legislature involved. 268 00:20:30.279 --> 00:20:34.000 Let's be creative here. Let's create a state of northern 269 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:37.279 California in a state of southern California, and we'll chop 270 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:40.079 it up so that Fresno has the least amount of influence. 271 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.079 The San Luquein Valley rather has the least amount of 272 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.279 influence humanly possible to ensure that it's two states both 273 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:53.039 with massive Democrat majorities give Democrats. And by the way, 274 00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:55.599 this is also giving Democrats more electoral College votes. If 275 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:58.279 you make Puerto Rico a state, Puerto Rico gets to 276 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:01.559 vote in presidential elections. Puerto Rico, so you know, gets 277 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:06.160 electoral College votes, extra couple of electoral College votes for 278 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:08.799 Democrats every time. Every new state you create gives them 279 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:13.319 more electoral College votes. They can do that, right. That's 280 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.920 how you create a new state. Basically, to create a 281 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:24.759 new state, all you need is a vote by Congress 282 00:21:25.160 --> 00:21:30.799 authorizing it, and a vote by whatever existing state might 283 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:33.640 be impacted. So if you wanted, like, for example, if 284 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:35.839 you wanted to create a new state out of like 285 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:39.519 southern Oregon and northern California, you need a vote by 286 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.759 the California legislature, the Oregon legislature, and you need a 287 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:49.599 vote in Congress. But again, if you get rid of 288 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:56.319 the sixty vote threshold in the Senate, that's more doable. 289 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.880 So that's what I'm saying is Republicans are all saying, 290 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:04.759 oh no, we would never break the philibuster rule. Well, 291 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:09.440 if Democrats are willing to break the filibuster rule. Is 292 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:11.920 it that crazy to think they would break the filibuster 293 00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:17.480 rule in such a way as to give themselves permanent 294 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:24.799 majorities to vote for themselves a more or less permanent majority. 295 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:27.039 The Republicans would then never be able to be in 296 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:32.480 the majority. Again, I think Republicans need to really seriously 297 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:36.920 consider maybe we should be the ones to break the 298 00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:42.000 filibuster first, because you don't want to be the second party. 299 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:45.559 You might not get the chance to be the second 300 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:56.880 party when we return the insane renovation at the California 301 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:01.480 State Capitol And how much exactly is it costing us? 302 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:07.359 Next on the John Girardi Show. This weird thing has 303 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:13.880 developed in Sacramento regarding the use of non disclosure agreements 304 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:19.599 by members of the California State Legislature in their negotiations 305 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:26.839 regarding pieces of legislation, their interactions with different people lobbying 306 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:31.759 with them for legislation. Some of that information has become 307 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:37.839 protected by non disclosure agreements. The most significant example of 308 00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:41.200 this was when it was learned that a lot of 309 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:45.599 the negotiations that took place over the fast food minimum 310 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:50.960 wage law, which came into effect this past April, that 311 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:55.240 a lot of the negotiations that lawmakers had with lobbyists 312 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:58.880 lobbying entities about it was covered by non disclosure agreements. 313 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:06.279 So when that came out that a lot of these 314 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:08.839 negotiations were sort of and there were other allegations about 315 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.759 shadiness in those negotiations, like the bizarre Panera Bread exception. 316 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:18.079 So for some reason, the twenty dollars per hour fast 317 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:24.119 food requirement wasn't going to apply to certain kinds of 318 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:31.200 fast casual places that had an oven. And then oh, 319 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:36.759 it comes out one of Governor Newsom's very good friends 320 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:43.759 who lobbied Governor Newsom's office about this, is this, you know, 321 00:24:43.880 --> 00:24:47.440 gazillionaire guy who is an owner for a ton of 322 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:53.039 Panera Bread franchises. And then Gavin Newsom comes on and says, oh, no, 323 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.759 this definitely applies to Panera Bread. And even though the 324 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:59.119 law clearly doesn't apply to Panera Bread, doesn't seem to 325 00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:04.640 anyway that people who were trying to investigate this. Reporters 326 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.359 were trying to investigate this found that a lot of 327 00:25:06.359 --> 00:25:09.920 these negotiations were people couldn't talk about them because they 328 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:12.559 were covered by non disclosure agreements. So non disclosure agreement 329 00:25:12.599 --> 00:25:16.480 is a contract basically saying, if you need to keep 330 00:25:16.519 --> 00:25:18.799 silent about this, and if you don't, then this penalty, 331 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:24.559 you know, this civil penalty will result. And naturally a 332 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:30.519 lot of people retorted to this by saying, hey, this 333 00:25:30.680 --> 00:25:38.519 is blowney. State lawmakers shouldn't be parties to non disclosure 334 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:43.640 agreements about how they came up with legislation. If lobbyists 335 00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:48.680 are lobbying our lawmakers to pass laws that are governing 336 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.880 all forty million of us, this is not the kind 337 00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:53.680 of thing that should be covered that a non disclosure 338 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:59.400 agreement should be allowed to govern. You're going to completely 339 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:03.279 eliminate any kind of transparency in government if you allow 340 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:07.839 such a thing. So Vince Fong, who Vince Pong is 341 00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:10.000 now a member of the US House of Representatives, but 342 00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:12.279 back earlier in the year, he was still a member 343 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:20.640 of the California State Assembly representing Bakersfield. Vince Fong after 344 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:28.960 that story, broke introduced a bill basically to ban NDAs 345 00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:33.319 between government officials and lobbyists. It was AB two sixty 346 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:39.240 five to four. The bill failed on a party line 347 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:47.079 vote in the Assembly Elections Committee, and it was basically 348 00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:49.119 a party line vote. The two Republicans on the committee 349 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:51.480 supported it, and none of the Democrats did. Most of 350 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:54.720 the Democrats didn't even vote on the thing. Now, which 351 00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:57.519 is such a gutless thing that happens in the California legislature. 352 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:02.799 Sometimes people will just not vote on something in the 353 00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:07.519 California legislature. But the way the rules work in the 354 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:11.599 state legislature, which is different from Congress, I believe, is 355 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:15.640 that for something to pass in the California legislature. For 356 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:19.599 something to pass in the California legislature, you need a 357 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:23.799 genuine majority, not just a majority of everybody who's there voting. 358 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:32.480 So if there are let's say seven people on a committee, 359 00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:35.720 you need four yes votes on something for it to advance. 360 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:39.039 It doesn't matter if if only five members of the 361 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:44.559 committee show up and you get three yes votes, that 362 00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:47.519 thing doesn't pass. So what often happens in the Assembly 363 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:50.799 is that a legislator doesn't want to vote yes on something, 364 00:27:50.839 --> 00:27:52.960 but he also doesn't want to vote no, so he 365 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:56.240 just does not vote. But not voting is the exact 366 00:27:56.359 --> 00:27:59.640 same thing as voting no. So you have these Democrats 367 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:02.319 who cly want to keep having non disclosure agreements for 368 00:28:02.359 --> 00:28:05.720 their negotiations with lobbyists, but they also don't want to 369 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:10.839 be on the record saying no, I oppose, no I 370 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:13.720 support non disclosure agreements. They don't want to be on 371 00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:15.359 the record saying that, so they just didn't vote, which 372 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:19.000 is it's a real coward move to try to pretend 373 00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:22.960 that you're not responsible for something in the eyes of 374 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:31.640 voters when you genuinely are. So. Vince Fong's bill to 375 00:28:31.799 --> 00:28:37.680 ban non disclosure agreements between lobbyists and state lawmakers that failed. 376 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.799 That failed on a party line vote. Now Fong got 377 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:46.599 to move on to greener pastures in the halls of Congress. 378 00:28:50.519 --> 00:28:54.359 But we are still left with this bizarre situation of 379 00:28:55.279 --> 00:29:01.079 in California with our state legislators, people just protect themselves 380 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:07.160 with non disclosure agreements in legislative lobbying. Well, here's another 381 00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:12.000 thing protected by non disclosure agreements, the capital ANX project. 382 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:17.759 So when you go to Sacramento, there is the old 383 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:25.000 historic California State Capital building. It's beautiful building. It's a 384 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:30.759 lot smaller than you'd think. City Hall in San Francisco 385 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:37.400 is actually i believe, bigger, bigger, taller. It's a fairly 386 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:44.160 modestly sized thing. And attached to the California Capital was 387 00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:51.319 the Capital was slash is the capital ANX. The ANX 388 00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:56.880 is where all of the state lawmakers had their individual offices. 389 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:02.039 So when I would go to Sacramento to lobby on 390 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:05.519 some abortion related bill, I would always stop by either 391 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:10.400 Jim Patterson's office, or maybe I'd go by Shannon Grove's 392 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.960 office or whoever. All eighty members of the California State 393 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:18.240 Assembly and all forty members of the California State Senate 394 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:21.920 had their offices there, and so they you know, it 395 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:26.359 would be a little office space where the member of 396 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:29.519 the legislature would have his or her office, their chief 397 00:30:29.559 --> 00:30:32.440 of staff, and then they'd have cubicles and stuff for oh, 398 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:35.559 this is this legislative director in this legislative aid, and 399 00:30:35.640 --> 00:30:39.079 this the communications person. Here's a scheduler, here's the secretary. 400 00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:42.599 Blah blah blah blah blah. Okay, So the annex was 401 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:49.559