By Charles C. W.
Cooke
Monday, June 21,
2021
Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has an op-ed in the Washington Post this
evening in which she vows to protect the Senate filibuster. Confirming that she
shares “the belief expressed in 2017 by 31 Senate Democrats opposing
elimination of the filibuster,” Sinema writes:
It’s no
secret that I oppose eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. I held the
same view during three terms in the U.S. House, and said the same after I was
elected to the Senate in 2018. If anyone expected me to reverse my position
because my party now controls the Senate, they should know that my approach to
legislating in Congress is the same whether in the minority or majority.
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. Those filibusters were mounted not as attempts to block
progress, but to force continued negotiations toward better solutions.
More:
And to
those who fear that Senate rules will change anyway as soon as the Senate
majority changes: I will not support an action that damages our democracy
because someone else did so previously or might do so in the future. I do not
accept a new standard by which important legislation can only pass on
party-line votes — and when my party is again in the Senate minority, I will
work just as hard to preserve the right to shape legislation.
In April, Senator Joe Manchin of West
Virginia made a similar argument in the Post. “I have
said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt,” Manchin
vowed: “There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken
the filibuster.”
Today, NBC News reported that
there are as many as seven Democratic senators who oppose
abolishing the legislative filibuster.
Maybe — just maybe — it’s time to talk
about something else?
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