Last night in an episode of Pod Save America, President Barack Obama reiterated and expanded upon the comments he made at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral in July, when he called the filibuster a “Jim Crow relic” that should be eliminated if it stood in the way of progress.
Sen. McConnell may laugh at concerns about his unwillingness or inability to pass desperately-needed COVID-19 response legislation, but people across the country are sick and tired of his broken Senate and are demanding that it be fixed.
What we are seeing right now from Sen. McConnell is another perfect example of how broken his Senate is and how critical it is that he not be allowed to continue this dysfunction next year.
This week we saw events and stories from around the country highlighting the growing momentum to fix the Senate and eliminate the filibuster as a tool that McConnell can use to continue his gridlock and obstruction in the Senate next year.
Last night, Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) joined advocates, activists, and labor leaders for a livestream event to discuss how the Senate is broken, what is at stake next year if it isn’t fixed, and what people can do to join the fight right now and in the months ahead.
Today, in a piece for Vox, editor-at-large Ezra Klein highlighted the case that Fix Our Senate has been making for months: protecting the filibuster has become an untenable position in the Democratic Party.
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.
