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Sinema said it’s imperative that “repeated radical reversals” be stopped, according to Fox News.
“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I support and have co-sponsored), I would ask: Would it be good for our country if we did, only to see that legislation rescinded a few years from now and replaced by a nationwide voter-ID law or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections, over the objections of the minority?”
“This question is less about the immediate results from any of these Democratic or Republican goals.”
“[I]t is the likelihood of repeated radical reversals in federal policy, cementing uncertainty, deepening divisions and further eroding Americans’ confidence in our government.”
Sinema And Joe Manchin are fighting to defend the filibuster.
“Once in a majority, it is tempting to believe you will stay in the majority.”
“But a Democratic Senate minority used the 60-vote threshold just last year to filibuster a police reform proposal and a covid-relief bill that many Democrats viewed as inadequate,” Sinema stated.
“Those filibusters were mounted not as attempts to block progress, but to force continued negotiations toward better solutions.”
An archaic Senate rule cannot get in the way of protecting our democracy. The filibuster is not worth it.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) June 20, 2021
“An archaic Senate rule cannot get in the way of protecting our democracy,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said.
“Filibuster supporters be like: we should let Republicans destroy democracy now because at some indeterminate time in the future they may try again,” Rep. Mondaire Jones said.
From Fox News:
Sinema, D-Ariz., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have been the two most vocal Democrats in the chamber defending the 60-vote threshold for legislation, often attracting the ire of their more liberal colleagues. And Sinema took a page from Manchin’s playbook Monday by laying out her case for the Senate’s controversial minority protection in an opinion piece.
The majority of the Democrats in the Senate signed a 2017 letter led by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Chris Coons, D-Del., asking Senate leaders to preserve the filibuster during the Trump presidency.
But as the 2020 election approached, and especially since President Biden was sworn in earlier this year, many Democrats renounced or at least distanced themselves from that stance, including Coons. Now Manchin and Sinema are the only two staunch filibuster defenders among Senate Democrats, with a few other moderates and institutionalists who quietly support them.
Sinema notes in her op-ed that Democrats often used the filibuster to stop Republican-supported legislation during President Trump’s tenure, when Republicans controlled the Senate.
Progressive Democrats, meanwhile, argue that the filibuster is racist and say eliminating it is necessary for Democrats to pass an agenda they deem critical to the country.
