Schumer insists Senate will ‘restore’ itself, break the filibuster to pass voting rights this year
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Senate Democrats on Monday that he has a long list of things he wants to accomplish in the next two weeks: debt ceiling, defense authorization, nomination, and Build Back Better. Given that they haven’t acSchumer insists Senate will ‘restore’ itself, break the filibuster to pass voting rights this year
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Senate Democrats on Monday that he has a long list of things he wants to accomplish in the next two weeks: debt ceiling, defense authorization, nomination, and Build Back Better. Given that they haven’t achieved those things in the previous 11 months, well, good luck. Schumer also added passing critical voting rights legislation, which is a must-have existentially for the nation and a goal that is wholly incompatible with the existence of the filibuster. He wants to pass that legislation and “restore the Senate” without nuking the filibuster. The filibuster allows the Senate minority to veto any piece of legislation from the majority other than budget reconciliation bills. It takes 60 votes for any other bill to move beyond introduction on the Senate floor, to even be debated. As of right now, that minority doesn’t even have to do anything to filibuster a bill and keep it from ever seeing the light of day. “Even if it means going at it alone, we will continue to fight for voting rights and work to find an alternative path forward to defend the most fundamental liberty we have as citizens. To that end, a number of our colleagues—with my full support—have been discussing ideas for how to restore the Senate to protect our democracy,” Schumer said in a letter to colleagues in November. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) gave The New Republic some insight as to what that idea of “restoring the Senate” could mean, and what his colleagues are looking at. Read more