A filibuster is a political strategy in which a US senator threatens to speak for hours on end to try and delay efforts to vote for a bill.
The filibuster is a powerful legislative device in the United States Senate. Senate rules permit a senator or senators to speak for as long as they wish and on any topic they choose, unless "three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn" usually 60 out of 100 senators vote to bring debate to a close by invoking cloture under Senate Rule XXII.
Republicans have managed to beat the filibuster to the point where it is hardly recognizable. So for Republicans to come to the floor and plead for hanging on to this tradition is actually pleading for the Senate to continue to do less and less each year. Mitch McConnell wants to protect minority voting rights in the US Senate, but not voting rights for American minorities.
Since McConnell is no longer Senate Majority Leader, he still holds the power to block legislation at will. If Democrats abolish the filibuster, his power vanishes. Critics say the 'Scorched Earth' threat over filibuster shows McConnell is getting scared. He shamelessly rammed his radical-right agenda through while he was Republican Majority Leader. Democrats must abolish the filibuster now so the GOP can't disenfranchise millions of American voters.
Just a few years ago, the Republicans had total control of the House, Senate, and White House to ram through their right wing agenda, but the American people voted them out. We should not allow Minority McConnell and his desperate disintegrated Republican party keep their veto power now.
Should The Democrats eliminate the filibuster? Are there ten GOP Senators who support voting rights?.
What happened to the Grand Old Party party of freedom fighters like Abe Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and my old boss George H.W. Bush?
