The Hill reports that the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity organization is launching a new ad campaign in support of preserving the filibuster. It is no surprise that the Koch brothers and Senator Mitch McConnell are interested in preserving the ‘Jim Crow’ filibuster and wielding it to protect special interests and block critical progress on voting rights and democracy reforms included in the “For the People” Act” (S1).
Ahead of President Biden’s address to Congress tonight, media outlets are previewing the bold priorities he intends to outline in his speech. These include calls for Congress to pass gun violence legislation, immigration legislation with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, a push for drug price legislation to lower the cost of prescription drug prices, police reform legislation; and voting rights and democracy reform measures.
In a weekend interview with Medhi Hasan on MSNBC, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asserted that his priority is delivering “big, bold change” as the “number one goal” for Democrats and reiterated that “we cannot fail” to pass S.1, the For the People Act: “failure is not an option. We cannot fail to pass S.1. And we will, we will.”
Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admissions Act. Introduced by D.C.’s own non-voting Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, the bill would make the District of Columbia a state, thereby ending the disenfranchisement of its residents and finally giving them voting representation in Congress.
A new report from Fix Our Senate details the “long and shameful history of segregationists and racists using the filibuster to block necessary progress on voting rights and democratizing our democracy.”
A new, six figure digital ad campaign launched by Fix Our Senate today highlights the stark choice facing Democratic Senators now: protect voting rights and democracy, or protect the ‘Jim Crow’ 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.
