From xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Subject Filibuster at Serious Risk As Sinema Begins Her Senate Exit
Date March 12, 2024 12:00 AM
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FILIBUSTER AT SERIOUS RISK AS SINEMA BEGINS HER SENATE EXIT  
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Burgess Everett, Ursula Perano
March 5, 2024
Politico
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_ While Democrats are more vocal about wanting to abolish the upper
chamber's supermajority requirement, it could be in danger regardless
of which party wins the Senate next year. _

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) walks through the U.S. Capitol after a
vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 5, 2024, Jonah Elkowitz
for POLITICO

 

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s decision to retire at the end of the year
makes at least one thing very clear: The filibuster is in big
trouble.

Two of its staunchest defenders in the Democratic Caucus, Sinema and
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), are now leaving. And Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell stepping down as GOP leader won't do anything
to shore up the Senate’s 60-vote requirement on most legislation.

That’s good news to filibuster haters — and a “scary
situation” for Manchin.

“It’s time to get rid of the filibuster. The filibuster has been
anti-Democratic and has done a whole lot more harm than good,” said
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “If [Republicans] have legislation
they wanted to pass. And the filibuster stood in the way? The
filibuster would be toast. It’s total politics.”

Republicans are now starting a race to succeed McConnell, who cut
multiple bipartisan deals with Sinema and Manchin in recent years and
sought to raise the debt ceiling so the two moderates wouldn't vote to
change the rules. McConnell also refused to change the filibuster
when Donald Trump was president as he urged
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senators to end the longstanding supermajority requirement before
Democrats did.

Filibuster politics are highly situational, and both parties have used
the legislative tool in recent years to block bills in the Senate —
though some Republicans believe their party benefits more from the
filibuster. Already the nomination filibuster is no more: Democrats
scrapped it for most nominees in 2013 and McConnell finished the job
by axing its use on Supreme Court nominees in 2017.

And it’s easy to defend the legislative filibuster from the minority
position, as Republicans have the past four years. Sen. Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) said he was “sure” a Republican majority would keep the
filibuster.

But if GOP senators have a good November, McConnell’s successor
could easily face intense pressure from Trump and his allies to scrap
the rule.

“It’s going to be up to us, and for sure whoever the leader is, to
defend the institution. And the role the Senate plays
constitutionally,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.),
who is running against Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the leader race.
“We’ve got to make sure, if we get the majority, that we have a
majority of Republicans committed to its defense.”

Cornyn said the filibuster is in “good shape” if Republicans get
the majority but he’s “worried about it” if Democrats win this
fall. After all, Democrats were just two votes away from dealing a
huge blow to the rule two years ago, when the party sought to use the
issue of voting rights as the impetus for a high-profile vote to
weaken the filibuster in 2022. They only failed due to opposition from
Manchin and Sinema.

But if Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) wins his race, Democrats hold the
Senate, Biden wins reelection and the party takes the House, another
effort to scrap the supermajority threshold seems almost certain. Kari
Lake, who is running against Gallego, praised Sinema on Tuesday for
showing “courage” on the filibuster and insisted she would not
vote to change it.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who may be the most conservative Democrat
left in the Senate if he wins a tough reelection bid this fall, said
he does not want to abolish the filibuster altogether but would like
to make it harder for individual senators to stop bills: “A talking
filibuster is not necessarily a bad thing.”

And Democratic leaders aren't shy about the fact that they still want
"real changes in the Senate rules," as Majority Whip Dick Durbin
(D-Ill.) put it.

"This is no longer a deliberative, legislative body,” he said.
“We’ve got to change the current set of rules as they are now. I
think the Senate is drifting into obscurity.”

_JOHN BURGESS EVERETT is the congressional bureau chief for POLITICO,
specializing in the Senate since 2013. He’s a native Mainer, a
University of Maryland graduate and one of those people who goes by
his middle name._

_Before covering the Senate, Burgess covered transportation policy for
POLITICO and served on the production team. He’s also an alum of the
Gazette in suburban Maryland and the Portland Press Herald in Maine._

_Burgess resides in Takoma, D.C., which is not the same as Takoma
Park, Md. He roots for the Terps and the Nationals and tries to keep
up with the culture by listening to RapCaviar. He enjoys running when
his ACLs are not torn and is known in the Senate for having slightly
longer hair than other people._

_URSULA PERANO is a legislative reporter._

_POLITICO is the global authority on the intersection of politics,
policy, and power. It is the most robust news operation and
information service in the world specializing in politics and policy,
which informs the most influential audience in the world with insight,
edge, and authority. Founded in 2007, POLITICO has grown to a team of
700 working across North America, more than half of whom are editorial
staff._

* U.S. Senate
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* Senate Rules
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* filibuster
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* Krysten Sinema
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* democracy
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* Politics
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