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John —
This is a long email about the Senate filibuster. I hope that by the time you’re done reading it:
- You’ll be as convinced as I am that we should do away with this archaic Senate rule that appears nowhere within the Constitution, and
You’ll chip in a few dollars to my Senate campaign to help me get rid of it once and for all.
The difference between the progress we made and the progress we should have made when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress in Joe Biden’s first two years was the filibuster.
Overturning Citizens United. Ending partisan gerrymandering. Guaranteeing voting rights. Curbing gun violence.
Why? Because of the ridiculous Jim Crow relic that says when a vote is 59-41, the side with 41 wins. It is a relic of the ugliest part of our history, used to deny civil and voting rights – the filibuster.
The filibuster is not written in the Constitution and has historically been rarely used. Throughout the filibuster’s history, Southern senators have used it to block civil rights bills and anti-lynching legislation. That’s the real filibuster in action.
Nowadays, the filibuster is used to stop anything that can’t get 60 votes or pass through the budget bill.
Like the John Lewis For the People Act. Or the Freedom to Vote Act.
The GOP is abusing the Senate filibuster to ever more startling degrees. It is blocking what overwhelming majorities of Americans want from their government.
It’s damn wrong. And I intend to do something about it.
As a United States Senator, I will fight from within the chamber to do away with this archaic tool on day one.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
The simple truth is that as long as the filibuster remains, we will not make progress quickly enough on the many compounding crises our country faces — from gun violence to reproductive freedom to the climate crisis to our very democracy.
We need to act. Thanks for joining me.
— Adam
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