John —
This is a long email, and by the time you’re done reading it, I hope you’ll be as ready as I am to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate once and for all. Give me a moment to explain.
As soon as the new Congress was sworn in this January, we got to work passing an historic, ambitious relief package. Its direct cash payments, expanded child tax credits, and funds to put more shots in arms were designed to help people weather the storm of the pandemic and emerge stronger, but this bill wasn’t easy to pass.
Despite overwhelming public support, the only reason we were able to pass it was because we used a process called “budget reconciliation,” which only requires a bare majority of votes in the Senate to pass.
The rules for budget reconciliation are very strict, only pertinent to certain budgetary matters, and it’s rarely used. In a Senate that’s deadlocked 50-50, and with the vast majority of bills going through regular order instead of reconciliation, the filibuster requires 60 votes to end debate and move the bills forward.
That means there are literally hundreds of bills the House has passed that have gone to collect dust in Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard. While Democrats hold the tie-breaking vote in a divided Senate, the filibuster gives McConnell the power to thwart our progress.
While movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington portray the filibuster’s noble use to defend constituents from bad legislation, the reality is darker than movies would have you believe.
The filibuster is not written in the Constitution and has historically been rarely used. Using the filibuster to block any bill that can’t get 60 votes is a relatively new phenomenon. What isn’t new is that 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.
It’s time to eliminate the filibuster once and for all. It’s simply not tenable for the will of the voters to be continually thwarted by an archaic rule.
Right now, we are at a tipping point in our democracy. Republicans are mobilizing in state legislatures to pass new restrictions that will disenfranchise millions of people, particularly people of color. Over 250 voter suppression bills have been introduced already. And they will soon draw highly partisan redistricting maps intended to lock in a Republican House majority for the next decade.
Virtually the entire Republican Party is openly supporting anti-democratic proposals because they think the filibuster will make it impossible for Congress to respond. We cannot let the filibuster once again prevent our efforts to stop a new generation of voter suppression Jim Crow laws.
The filibuster is not the vital check and balance that McConnell would have you believe — far from it. The very design of our government, enshrined in our Constitution, includes a variety of checks and balances including a bicameral legislature, presidential veto powers, and federal courts to review our laws.
Freezing our ability to pass any reforms is not a healthy check and balance. It’s a roadblock to progress. And it’s meant to be.
Eliminating the filibuster entirely is an uphill climb, but if senators are going to hold up popular legislation, the least we can require is for them to hold the floor.
The bottom line is this: the House has spent weeks passing critical legislation on labor rights, universal background checks, strengthening our democracy, and police accountability. McConnell will add these wildly popular proposals to the legislative graveyard if we don’t do something.
With our first FEC deadline tomorrow at midnight, I’m asking — will you chip in $10 today to help me keep up the fight to end the Senate filibuster?
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The fact we are having this conversation on eliminating the filibuster is proof of just how much your voice matters in this process. Let’s keep it up and pave the way for more of these popular bills to become laws.
— Adam
