{"id":20798,"date":"2024-10-18T15:11:23","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T19:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=20798"},"modified":"2024-11-12T15:14:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T20:14:29","slug":"why-democrats-purest-filibuster-reformer-is-playing-the-long-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/why-democrats-purest-filibuster-reformer-is-playing-the-long-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Democrats\u2019 purest filibuster reformer is playing the long game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Semafor
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filibuster\u2019s leading Democratic antagonist will continue his charge to weaken the 60-vote threshold \u2014 even if Republicans are in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To many Democrats, choosing process over party might sound ill-advised or even crazy. Not to Jeff Merkley, the lanky progressive senator from Oregon, whose commitment to changing the filibuster appears remarkably purist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Democrats celebrated after Vice President Kamala Harris embraced eliminating the filibuster, a now oft-abused Senate tool, to pass abortion rights legislation last month. But that chatter\u2019s gotten a lot quieter as Republicans are favored to take back the Senate this year, leaving little upside for Democrats in entertaining a procedural change that might not help their agenda for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party in power is typically far more interested in changing Senate rules, only to lose interest once it\u2019s in the minority. So Merkley is trying to make the wonky topic less situational and more about fixing a Senate that\u2019s barely legislated over the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cit\u2019s not an authentic or legitimate strategy if you don\u2019t see it working in the minority and the majority. And so I\u2019m happy to talk about it, not knowing if we\u2019ll be the majority or minority,\u201d he told Semafor in a recent interview in his Capitol Hill office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing Merkley\u2019s clear about that sets him apart from some off-the-Hill liberals: He doesn\u2019t want to get rid of the filibuster entirely. He hopes to preserve the ability of the party out of power to gum up the works for weeks at a time, as long as they work for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His favored change, the talking filibuster, would require Democrats to fight back by speaking nonstop on the Senate floor if a future Republican majority tries to pass, for example, a national abortion ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can force them to debate that for six weeks, and then the American people can weigh in,\u201d Merkley said. Even \u201cin the minority,\u201d he added, \u201con something that is of great significance we have the ability to slow it down, engage the public and carry the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s getting precisely zero support from Senate Republicans, even though his proposals would undoubtedly empower them should they take back control. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the filibuster the \u201cessence of the Senate\u201d in a recent interview; Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., wrote to colleagues this week that \u201call of us are against blowing up the filibuster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Merkley\u2019s approach is generally popular among fellow Democrats, even those in red and purple states. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., supports the talking filibuster, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said this week that \u201cthe filibuster has been an excuse not to pass needed legislation \u2026 it\u2019s time to put an end to excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite that growing interest, getting 50 votes to change Senate procedure is so difficult in the tradition-bound chamber that it\u2019s known as \u201cthe nuclear option.\u201d Most senators have no interest in enacting such a consequential change without a guarantee of quick results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which means that Merkley is fighting the long game, and he knows it. He\u2019s developed a presentation for colleagues on the abuse of the filibuster and how it\u2019s given the Senate\u2019s minority party veto power over legislation. He talks to Democratic candidates about it, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCandidates are all hearing about it, and those deeply engaged in campaigns are familiar with it. They\u2019re all saying, \u2018Look, it\u2019s illegitimate to campaign on policy if you accept an institutional structure in which you can\u2019t get those policies to the floor,\u2019\u201d Merkley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know More<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever since the late former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid first chipped away at the filibuster for nominees in 2013, with Republicans going further in 2017 and 2019, both parties have flirted with further changes. McConnell pushed back against then-President Donald Trump\u2019s hopes of outright gutting the 60-vote threshold on legislation. Then Democrats fell two votes short of a filibuster carveout for a voting bill in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, most Republican senators say they\u2019re prepared to protect the filibuster\u2019s effective veto power for the minority, even if Trump asks again \u2014 and especially as Democrats try to portray a carveout as a one-time deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce you do it once, it\u2019s over,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that point, at least, Merkley agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never supported carving out exceptions to it, because if you carve out an exception on one topic, you\u2019re going to carve out exceptions on the other,\u201d he said. \u201cWhich means that the Senate will become the House, a place where the majority just rolls over the top of the minority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becoming the majoritarian House is, indeed, most senators\u2019 worst nightmare for their workplace. Merkley\u2019s talking filibuster would allow the minority party to coordinate opposition and indefinitely delay legislation, provided it could hold the floor. For modest bills, a talking filibuster might dissipate quickly. Eventually, most bills could be passed at a simple majority threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two former Democrats who opposed Merkley\u2019s last filibuster bid are still warning against his vision. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the retiring Arizona Independent, calls changing the filibuster \u201cterrible, shortsighted\u201d and a possible shortcut to a future abortion ban. Retiring Independent Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia insists that the filibuster \u201ckeeps us working together in a bipartisan way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burgess\u2019s view<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve long believed that the legislative filibuster will eventually be weakened. The Senate has now changed its precedent three times since 2013, a new level of flexibility for so-called \u201cage-old rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s plainly true that Democrats are more interested in the kind of sweeping legislation that the 60-vote threshold has strangled for a decade now. Both parties use the filibuster, but Republicans widely believe they benefit more from it. Still, they offered more bipartisanship on critical legislation in 2021 and 2022, wary that too much obstruction could force Democrats\u2019 hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unusual that Merkley is comfortable with his reforms even if Democrats are stuck in the minority, because the situational nature of filibuster reform is not helpful to his cause. If either party only talks about changing the Senate rules while in charge, that only fuels the perception that changing the filibuster is all about power rather than making the Senate functional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But change now seems unlikely during the next Congress \u2014 unless Democrats can somehow claim full control of Washington next month.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Semafor The News The filibuster\u2019s leading Democratic antagonist will continue his charge to weaken the 60-vote threshold \u2014 even if Republicans are in power. To many Democrats, choosing process over party might sound ill-advised or even crazy. 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