You're right, no single Dem had that power, but collectively they did. There must have been a pre determined agreement to not raise the 14th Amendment. I've asked my Representative, Senators, and other Democrats and none of them have explained why they did this.
Republicans didn't have the two-thirds required in either chamber, let alone both chambers. They could not install Donnie without the Democrats help, and the Democrats rolled over for them. Why?
There's a major problem re Congress and 14AS3: Per the CRS: "Section 3 does not appear to be self-executing and does not expressly provide a procedure for its implementation, other than Section 5’s general authority of Congress “to enforce [the 14A] by appropriate legislation.”
The Congressional Research Service's Legal Sidebar on this is pretty good. It does well in explaining the issue to lay people: www.congress.gov/crs_external...
As for the Democrats in 2021: It's clear that there was no will in the Dem leadership in 2021 to press the issue, however much we voters wanted them to do it. They knew they only had two years to pass some good law.
Pursuing the legislation to define "insurrection" and push it through committee might have made it through the House because of the majority there in the 117th Congress. However, with the Republicans having the majority in the Senate, that bill would not have made it to committee.
Here's another article on 14AS3 in a reference from CREW: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... that argues that Section 3 /is/ self-executing, which of course, is a different interpretation than the writer of the CRS Sidebar.
It's these questions of interpretation needing to be settled that also likely deterred the Democrats from pursuing the issue. I'm sure there are people who know this recent legal history very well. I'm too tired to continue.
I'd still like to know why no Democrat I have contacted will give me a reason for why they did not act.
Thank you for your explanation. It's a much better engagement than calling me an idiot and telling me I don't know what I'm talking about 🙂