its only for judges, and it would set a terrible precedent to do it for other items
The Senate was set up to require a 2/3 majority to pass laws. Laws are supposed to be difficult to pass. If its a simple majority then the Senate is no different then the House. You are aware, that before the 17th amendment Senators were elected buy the state legislatures.
yes, I believe it was 67 votes to pass a law originally, then it got watered down to 60
They had 60 votes to pass Obamacare, it was not a simple majority. Remember Al Franken election fraud, he was the 60th vote. Dems have had supermajoritys 3 times. The New Deal, The Great Society, and Obamacare.
You see in your link, that the largest part was passed as a normal bill that the Republicans did not have the numbers to filibuster.
thanks for the article, I remember it was very confusing at the time.