December 19, 2019

The Filibuster Will Be With Us For a While

Bernie Sanders says Medicare for All will pass after his silver tongued oratory spurs a revolution. Really?PBS

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I’ve written at greater length about this before, but it’s worth mentioning that the only way a Democratic president will get anything done is to get bills through the Senate with Republican support. Even if Democrats win a thin Senate majority in 2020, we already know they don’t have the votes to eliminate the filibuster. So they’ll need 60 votes for anything. It’s true that there are a few things they can pass via reconciliation, but that has limits too.

So . . . when the candidates talk about how they’re going to get things done, take it with a great big shaker of salt.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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