Today, after Senate Republicans filibustered the Paycheck Fairness Act, Sen. Patty Murray’s bill to help address the gender pay gap in America, Fix Our Senate and Supermajority released the below statements calling on Democrats to finally eliminate the filibuster.
Stating “[w]e cannot allow the filibuster to stand in the way of progress or imperil the health of our democracy,” more than 100 organizations representing millions of Americans today sent in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), calling on Senate Democrats to eliminate the filibuster.
Following the Senate Republican filibuster of the bipartisan Jan. 6 commission, Fix Our Senate launched a new six-figure nationwide ad campaign reminding voters that if Senate Republicans and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will filibuster a bipartisan commission to investigate an attack on their own workplace, they will do the same to every other piece of major legislation that comes to the floor.
Today, Senator Kyrsten Sinema commented on her opposition to getting rid of the filibuster at an event with Sen. John Cornyn in Texas, where the Republican state legislature is attempting to pass the most restrictive voter suppression legislation in the country.
Last Friday following the first filibuster of this Congress, CNN published an op-ed by Fix Our Senate spokesman Eli Zupnick calling on Senate Democrats to do away with the filibuster to safeguard democracy and pass the For the People Act.
Following the Senate Republicans filibuster of legislation to create a bipartisan commission investigating the January 6 insurrection, Indivisible, Fix Our Senate, and 56 organizations representing millions of people across the country released the following statement calling on Senate Democrats to finally eliminate the filibuster:
A poll commissioned by Fix Our Senate and conducted by Global Strategy Group found that 43% of registered voters in West Virginia see the filibuster as a way to create more gridlock.
Unless Democrats take steps to reform or eliminate the filibuster, McConnell can use this obstructionist weapon to block the For the People Act
President Biden’s legislative ambitions face a crucial test in the narrowly divided Congress this month, with key Democratic senators signaling they want to pump the brakes.
Once obscure, the Senate filibuster is coming under fresh scrutiny not only because of the enormous power it gives a single senator to halt President Joe Biden’s agenda, but as a tool historically used for racism.
Gun control groups are joining the progressive fight to end the filibuster as the Senate voting rule threatens their goal of passing comprehensive gun reform.
"Historian of the 20th century South here. I dispute Mitch's statement. The filibuster has a ton of 'racial history.'"
This brief will explore the racist history of the filibuster, how it came to be used as it is today, and outline this history specifically through the lens of gun violence prevention, cataloging legislation that has been impeded by the use of the filibuster, obstructing progress toward safer communities and fewer needless tragedies.
The filibuster is a procedural tool of the Senate that delays or prevents a piece of legislation from being brought to a vote. It is a vestige of a deal made to appeal to segregationists and has historically been used to block passage of civil rights legislation.
