Apparently seeing WV Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin getting all the attention over the filibuster made Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema angry, so now she demands the sacrifice of American democracy at the altar of bipartisanship, and she wants her pony too dammit!
To those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to pass the For the People Act (voting-rights legislation I support and have co-sponsored), I would ask: Would it be good for our country if we did, only to see that legislation rescinded a few years from now and replaced by a nationwide voter-ID law or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections, over the objections of the minority?
To those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to expand health-care access or retirement benefits: Would it be good for our country if we did, only to later see that legislation replaced by legislation dividing Medicaid into block grants, slashing earned Social Security and Medicare benefits, or defunding women’s reproductive health services?
To those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to empower federal agencies to better protect the environment or strengthen education: Would it be good for our country if we did, only to see federal agencies and programs shrunk, starved of resources, or abolished a few years from now?
This question is less about the immediate results from any of these Democratic or Republican goals — it is the likelihood of repeated radical reversals in federal policy, cementing uncertainty, deepening divisions and further eroding Americans’ confidence in our government.
And to those who fear that Senate rules will change anyway as soon as the Senate majority changes: I will not support an action that damages our democracy because someone else did so previously or might do so in the future. I do not accept a new standard by which important legislation can only pass on party-line votes — and when my party is again in the Senate minority, I will work just as hard to preserve the right to shape legislation.
Good-faith arguments have been made both criticizing and defending the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. I share the belief expressed in 2017 by 31 Senate Democrats opposing elimination of the filibuster — a belief shared by President Biden. While I am confident that several senators in my party still share that belief, the Senate has not held a debate on the matter.
It is time for the Senate to debate the legislative filibuster, so senators and our constituents can hear and fully consider the concerns and consequences. Hopefully, senators can then focus on crafting policies through open legislative processes and amendments, finding compromises that earn broad support.
A group of 10 Democrats and 11 Republicans that I am helping lead has reached an agreement on an infrastructure investment framework. We are now negotiating with the administration. Bipartisan working groups to which I belong are negotiating how to address our broken immigration system and raise the federal minimum wage. I strongly support bipartisan discussions underway on police reform. The Senate recently passed a critical water infrastructure bill, as well as crucial research, development and manufacturing legislation.
It’s possible that not all of these efforts will succeed — and those that do may not go as far as some of us wish.
But bipartisan policies that stand the test of time could help heal our country’s divisions and strengthen Americans’ confidence that our government is working for all of us and is worthy of all of us.
And as several people, myself included, several of you in the comments, pundits and columnists ranging from Never Trumpers to progressives and everyone in between have all exhaustively noted over the last several months, Sinema's argument about the filibuster as a tool of moderation would be correct if it wasn't for the fact that Republicans are currently using it to block everything the Democrats are trying to do, just as they did during the Obama years.
The second strike against this curious naiveté is the fact that the GOP also refuses to operate in good faith on nearly anything. Mitch McConnell is on record as opposing the entire Biden administration, Sen. John Barasso has openly said that he wants to make Biden a half-term President, burying his agenda. This isn't two opposing sides of democracy, folks, this is one side wants democracy and the other side wants authoritarian dictatorship.
Thirdly, Sinema's "Group of 21" is also a trap, one designed to give both Democrats and Republicans cover to not do anything about the filibuster and keep it as is as a tool of obstruction. The For The People Act is about to be blocked by every single Republican senator. The infrastructure bill isn't being made better by Republican filibuster threats, every time the bill gets smaller and smaller. Sinema is just as guilty as using this bipartisanship as an excuse to pass no legislation, so she doesn't have to answer for failure. Senators rarely do.
And I'm tired of it.
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