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This week, Senate Republicans fourth voting-rights legislation for a third time since Democrats took control of the Senate in January. Although earlier defeats failed to galvanize sufficient support for filibuster reform, there are signs that the dynamic may be shifting.
President Biden, a longtime defender of the filibuster, suggested in a town hall last month that it might be time to “fundamentally alter the filibuster.” Previous filibuster defenders Senators Angus King and Jon Tester have come around to the necessity of filibuster reform. And, although we’ve heard nothing from pivotal Senator Joe Manchin this week, the logic of his public position on voting-rights legislation—both that it is badly needed, and that it should be achieved through bipartisan legislation—is rapidly eroding, as virtually all Senate Republicans increasingly show themselves opposed to any legislation that would remove barriers to voting. This latest filibuster, of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore important protections against racial discrimination in voting that have been gutted by the Supreme Court over the past decade, should come as a wake-up call.
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For those who want to see meaningful legislation to protect voting, but who are not ready to support outright abolition of the filibuster, a reframing might be useful. Passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act or other democracy-enhancing legislation doesn’t require a wholesale elimination of the filibuster, or any fundamental change to the Senate’s rules or its character. It just requires understanding that Senate voting procedure is already an uneven patchwork.
Budget bills passed through reconciliation require only 51 votes. Confirmations—of executive-branch officials up to and including the Cabinet, and of federal judges up to and including justices of the Supreme Court—require only 51 votes. These are extraordinarily consequential aspects of the Senate’s…
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Source : time
