- cross-posted to:
- antiwork@lemmit.online
- cross-posted to:
- antiwork@lemmit.online
President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, supporting their call for a 40% pay raise and saying they deserve a “lot more” than they are getting.
Biden’s appearance, the first visit by a U.S. president to striking workers in modern history, comes a day before Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for president, will speak to auto workers in Michigan. The rare back-to-back events highlight the importance of union support in the 2024 presidential election, even though unions represent a tiny fraction of U.S. workers.
Democrat Biden traveled to a Belleville, Michigan, parts distribution center owned by General Motors (GM.N), and joined dozens of picketers outside. “Companies were in trouble, now they’re doing incredibly well. And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too,” Biden said through a bullhorn. “Stick with it.”
Democrats only had it for ~4 months. 11 weeks of in-session Congress time.
I believe you, and I kinda remember that tbh but I’m having a hard time finding info on it.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jun/25/control-house-and-senate-1900/
Here’s where I got my information
https://sandiegofreepress.org/2012/09/the-myth-of-the-filibuster-proof-democratic-senate/
A lot of datasets looking at Congress over time smooth over small nuances. They look at the bi-annual election results and assume that’s what holds until the next election. The problem for answering a question like this is that Congress changes between elections. The Democrat majority includes Arlan Spectre, who defected. Al Franken, whose election was contested and not resolved until months into his term. Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd were ancient and in the process of dying (perfectly fair to blame the party for letting them cling to office too long. Some things never change). The article doesn’t mention it, but I think that 60 senators includes one or two independents who caucused with the Dems too, like Bernie Sanders.