While we applaud Senate Democrats for standing strong against Minority Leader McConnell’s attempt to lock in the filibuster in the Senate’s organizing resolution, his filibuster threat succeeded in blocking Democrats from taking over committees for two full weeks and delayed critical action to advance President Biden’s agenda.
Make no mistake: Sen. McConnell’s failed attempt to seize power from the minority has made filibuster elimination more likely than ever before.
Today, Fix Our Senate and a broad coalition of advocacy groups launched a full page ad in the New York Times calling on Senate Democrats to eliminate the filibuster and remove Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s most potent tool for creating gridlock and blocking President Biden’s agenda from the minority.
In his first act as minority leader Senator McConnell has managed to unite the Democratic caucus and highlight exactly why he can’t be trusted to keep the filibuster as a weapon of partisan gridlock and obstruction.
Senator McConnell knows that the filibuster is the best weapon he has to control the Senate from the minority and prevent Democrats from delivering on the promises they made to voters.
Fix Our Senate released a new ad calling on Senate Democrats to eliminate the filibuster, calling it “a partisan weapon” that Senator Mitch McConnell will use to block popular legislation and continue his gridlock and dysfunction from the minority.
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.
