# House (of Reps) Flipping in 2016: 5 Tips to Help You Turn a Profit **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 28, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153 "2016-09-28T21:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/21 "2016-10-10T19:41:49Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I think I don’t get what you mean. If they can change the rules with 50-55, then they can eliminate the need for 60 votes except for talking filibusters, right? If so, and they control the House, then they can easily pass minimum wage, a public option for health care, tax reform, immigration reform, etc., right? So getting the House would be a huge deal and mean lots of Democratic priority legislation passing. Ah. We were talking about filibusters of court appointments, not filibusters altogether. I don’t think there’s any chance they’ll have 50 votes to get rid of filibusters altogether. They didn’t even have the votes when they had 59 Senators, much less the 52 or whatever that they’ll have in 2017. > [@elucidator](#): > > That question is so uncharacteristic of you, **Richard** , that I hesitate to answer. Then they have the House? And the Senate and the President. I remember being told that was a good thing. It’s a good thing except for the filibuster. With the filibuster, I don’t think it really matters. And, as I wrote above, I don’t think there’s any chance of complete repeal of the filibuster. They’d be more likely to win 60 seats than to win 50 seats with filibuster-repealers. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/22 "2016-10-10T20:31:38Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Ah. We were talking about filibusters of court appointments, not filibusters altogether. > > I don’t think there’s any chance they’ll have 50 votes to get rid of filibusters altogether. They didn’t even have the votes when they had 59 Senators, much less the 52 or whatever that they’ll have in 2017. > > It’s a good thing except for the filibuster. With the filibuster, I don’t think it really matters. And, as I wrote above, I don’t think there’s any chance of complete repeal of the filibuster. They’d be more likely to win 60 seats than to win 50 seats with filibuster-repealers. Even considering the sky-high contentiousness? Especially with a weakened Republican party, I think bringing back the talking filibuster (or some other way of making it harder to block legislation) could be possible. But only if the Democrats get the House. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/23 "2016-10-10T20:37:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > But only if the Democrats get the House. Is your argument that they won’t try unless they get the House? If not, I don’t see how the House is relevant. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/24 "2016-10-10T21:05:15Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Is your argument that they won’t try unless they get the House? If not, I don’t see how the House is relevant. Yes – I don’t think they’d bother trying to change the rules (except maybe for judges) without also having the House. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/25 "2016-10-10T21:37:20Z")
Flipping [house committee chairs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_House_of_Representatives_committees) is pretty relevant. It will put a stop to frivolous investigations into literally everything that Clinton has done in her life. Otherwise expect more years of Benghazi hearings, the Clinton Foundation hearings, Whitewater hearings, hearings on whether she cut the tag off a mattress, hearings on whether she relayed accounts of the events of an MLB game with only implied verbal consent as opposed to express written consent. You get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/26 "2016-10-10T23:17:26Z")
I think it’s unlikely because the states needed to flip the House are the ones that Trump is targeting because they have a lot of non college educated working class white people. Looking at a map of house seats, the most highly gerrymandered states are in the rust belt, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. It’s going to be very difficult to pick up seats in those states, even though those are the ones that would flip to the D side under a proportional representation system. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/27 "2016-10-10T23:22:32Z")
The filibuster is really Not A Big Deal if the Democrats make the Republicans stick to the letter of the rules and have a little patience. Forget the procedural filibuster - make the bastards get up there and physically filibuster every Og-damned appointment. That will get real old real quick, even with the Republican base. Filibusters are finite, and all the Democrats have to do is be standing when the Republicans run out of steam. None of the present crop could top 28 hours, I’ll bet. Then they drop, a vote is taken, and Shereen’s your new Supreme. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/28 "2016-10-10T23:24:36Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > Flipping [house committee chairs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_House_of_Representatives_committees) is pretty relevant. It will put a stop to frivolous investigations into literally everything that Clinton has done in her life. Otherwise expect more years of Benghazi hearings, the Clinton Foundation hearings, Whitewater hearings, hearings on whether she cut the tag off a mattress, hearings on whether she relayed accounts of the events of an MLB game with only implied verbal consent as opposed to express written consent. > > You get the idea. It will do that. But is that a good thing? The Benghazi hearings were a waste of taxpayer money, surely. But were they actually bad for Democrats? Or is letting the GOP chase their tail while making it clear that they have no interest in actual governance a useful PSA for America about the modern Republican party? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153/29 "2016-10-10T23:50:39Z")
The only way I see Dems taking the House (even getting close) is if the feud between Ryan and Trump starts to grow ‘bigly’ and other prominent republicans start taking sides. Short of that, the Dems might pick up a seat here and there. The Senate is what’s at stake now with Trump’s meltdown but the House republicans probably get re-elected. Now, what happens once House republicans get elected…that’s an entirely different story. If an intra-party war begins, it could rage on indefinitely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-reps-flipping-in-2016-5-tips-to-help-you-turn-a-profit/767153.md?page=1)