The talking filibuster could get the support that repealing the filibuster wouldn’t. Like other ideas, though, it has its drawbacks.
Senate Democrats this weekend passed President Biden’s historic $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on a party-line vote. But the exercise reinforced the reality for the party moving forward: GOP votes will be very hard to come by, and passing virtually any other significant Democratic legislation will be very difficult. This one required just 50 votes under the reconciliation process, but that legislative maneuver can be used only sparingly, and everything else will require 60 votes.
Enter the most likely current candidate for reform: the talking filibuster.
Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) is one of two moderate Senate Democrats posing the biggest obstacle to the left’s quest to get rid of the filibuster — the source of the effective 60-vote threshold. He and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have said there are no circumstances under which they would nuke the filibuster. Given that a majority of the Senate is needed to undo it — and Democrats have just 50 votes — that’s prohibitive for now. Continue reading.
