Cancel the filibuster

With the wave of attacks on voting rights in state legislatures around the country, we desperately need Congress to take action to protect the 2022 midterm elections.

SIGN NOW: The new Senate must prioritize eliminating the filibuster -- so that our legislators can get to work on the issues that matter to the American people. ADD YOUR NAME Pamela, The filibuster―a once-arcane accident of Senate rules―has been perverted into a de facto supermajority requirement for almost any legislation. It's bad, and it's time to get rid of it. Filibuster defenders claim that a requirement for legislation to receive 60 votes on the way to passing promotes bipartisanship. But the use of the filibuster requirement has coincided with the harshest partisanship the Senate has seen in more than a century. As a tool of bipartisanship, the filibuster is an utter failure. And it's easy to see why: Rather than trying to improve legislation in exchange for their votes, members of the minority party can instead obstruct and sabotage the incumbent administration. ADD YOUR NAME: The filibuster has got to go. There are a few exceptions to the filibuster: Judges, appointments, and budget reconciliation. These exceptions mask how dysfunctional the Senate has become, and functionally destroy the legislative branch. Since the minority has no incentive to do anything but obstruct regular legislation, all actual governing must happen either by judicial fiat, executive orders, or once-a-year spending bills. This is no way to run a country. And if not for the filibuster, we wouldn't have to. ADD YOUR NAME: The Senate must end the filibuster and let the majority rule! Some say that Democrats need to preserve the filibuster to prevent Republicans from doing something even worse if they eventually re-take the majority. But Mitch McConnell already eliminated the filibuster on Supreme Court nominees for Neal Gorsuch, there's no question that if the filibuster stood in the way of something they want, they would eliminate it. With the wave of attacks on voting rights in state legislatures around the country, we desperately need Congress to take action to protect the 2022 midterm elections. But that action cannot be taken without eliminating the filibuster. So the question for every Senator is, do you want free elections, or to preserve the filibuster? ADD YOUR NAME: To save our democracy, the Senate must eliminate the filibuster. Thanks, Mike Phelan Progress America DONATE NOW Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Progress America, please click here.