As of Wednesday, January 20th, 2021, Democrats officially control the U.S. Senate after swearing in three newly elected Democratic senators: Vice President Kamala Harris’ successor, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California, and Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia. Now that the Senate floor is split 50/50, VP Harris holds the power to break any ties on the deeply divided floor.
However, talks of abolishing the filibuster, “a tactic of obstruction used in the United States Senate to prevent a measure from being brought to a vote,” are back on the table now that the Senate floor has been split in half. These conversations are being led by progressive House Democrats, who are pushing for real change during the Biden administration.
Now that the Democrats control both the White House and Senate floor, it makes sense that they would want to push ahead and abolish the filibuster rule. This isn’t the first time Democrats have pushed for abolishing this rule.
In a 52-48 vote, Democrats were able to successfully abolish a part of the filibuster rule by eliminating the use of the filibuster when it comes to executive branch and judicial nominees in 2013. The only exception to that ruling was that it couldn’t be applied to Supreme Court nominees. In 2015, Republicans took control of the Senate and kept the new rule in place. However, in 2017, Senate Republicans were swift to eliminate the last remaining exception to the 2013 amendment. The Republicans invoked the “nuclear option” and made it possible to eliminate any filibustering when it came to Supreme Court nominees as well. This can be seen in how quickly and easily Republicans were able to usher in three of former President Trump’s Supreme Court nominations during his first term.
Progressive Democrats are pushing hard “to frame the Senate filibuster as a tool for racism and oppression, tying the procedural mechanism that makes it impossible to pass most legislation without 60 votes to its history use in blocking anti-lynching and civil rights bills in the 1950s.” Most recently, Republicans have been using the filibuster as a way to stall talks on pushing through coronavirus relief legislation.
According to Rev. Stephany Spaulding, the continued use of the filibuster “has impacted Black and brown communities for centuries due to its ability to uphold white supremacist ideas.” It’s no big surprise that the legislation that receives the majority of these filibuster hearings is legislation that would help progress for marginalized groups of people. Besides coronavirus relief, filibusters have been used in response to talks of expanding voter rights and protections during the most recent General Election.
With new talks of what to do with this disconcerting rule, I find myself shaking my head in chagrin either way the final verdict goes. In some ways, for ordinary people like me and you, it doesn’t really matter if the filibuster rule is abolished or not. To a lot of senators, especially Republican Senators, playing with people’s lives is a game.
In 2020, House Republicans fought tooth and nail to ensure that the American people wouldn’t see a penny unless it quite literally killed them. The glacial pace at which the Senate moved, particularly Republicans, to push through the coronavirus relief bill is proof. House Republicans would have rather spent time on the floor talking about re-opening the economy during a deadly pandemic, lowering the price of stimulus checks, or anything else instead of working together with Democrats to help pass a bill that would help their constituents. In their minds, it doesn’t matter whether or not the average person gets a paycheck from the government – as long as Americans keep paying their taxes, Senators will continue to get paid.
January 7th, the day after terrorists stormed the U.S. Capitol, is when I realized that elected politicians like to play games with the lives of the people who voted them in. It was when I heard Sen. Lindsay Graham’s (R-SC) smug voice announce that he was officially cutting ties with former President Trump after the insurrection. He stated, “Trump and I – we’ve had a helluva journey…from my point of view, he’s been a consequential president. All I can say is count me out, enough is enough, I’ve tried to be helpful.” You could almost hear the sound of vindication in his voice that essentially proved that his work in aiding and abetting Trump to lead the violent storming of the Capitol, which left five people dead, was over.
By saying the phrase “enough is enough,” Graham was signaling that he no longer wanted to play the deadly game that he has allowed his constituents and followers to play now that his dedication to spreading lies and conspiracy theories had put him in harm’s way. When it’s time to put the lives of others in danger, Graham and other Republican leaders have no problem in perpetuating baseless feuds and fueling the fire, but the game’s no longer fun when it directly puts them in harm’s way.
Is there anyone who is in politics for the sake of actually helping the people? Or has politics become another career field where people try to advance for their own political gain?
It’s not confirmed whether or not progressive Democrats are going to be successful in eradicating the final filibuster pillar, which will allow for Biden to pass laws with relative ease during his term. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called for House Democrats to put down in writing that they will not abolish the filibuster rule; however, that was met with opposition from the majority of Democratic senators. As reported by CNN’s Lauren Fox, “Democratic aides [have] point[ed] out that putting that down in writing when you are at the beginning of your new reign in power in the Senate would be unprecedented.” Democrats don’t want to put anything in writing that may be used against them or be seen as a sign of concession moving forward with any legislation that might be considered progressive.
At this time, only two Democratic Senators have assured Sen.McConell that they will not vote in favor of getting rid of the rule. Sens. Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema both issued statements that they would vote against ending the filibuster rule. Be that as it may, only time will tell how long they will stick to their word and/or possibly change their minds on sticking to this agreement. Patience isn’t infinite when it comes to being on the Senate floor,
Biden has spoken briefly about his stance on the issue and has stated that he is in favor of keeping the rule in place. This should come as no surprise, as Biden has been consistent in his stance since the primaries took place early last year. At one point last summer, Biden did mention that he would be open to the idea of changing the rule by saying, “It would depend on how obstreperous [GOP lawmakers] become.” However, it seems as if that window of opportunity has closed.
It will only be a matter of time before we see how long the filibuster rule can last in a deeply divided and torn Senate.
