The Senate’s impasse over the SAVE America Act demonstrates why bills stall when senators are unwilling to expend the effort required to legislate in the chamber. Because senators no longer debate, they have convinced themselves they can know what the Senate will pass before anyone tries to pass it.
They can't.
A bill's prospects don't depend on how many senators say they support it in advance, or on whether 60 senators say they will vote to invoke cloture before debate begins. They also turn on how strongly senators hold their positions, whether they will bear the costs required to prevail, and — if the bill can't pass in its initial form — which amendments senators will accept. None of that is knowable in advance, because none of it exists yet.
