Pressure is building on Senate Democrats to abolish the chamber's filibuster, which liberals believe has long frustrated enactment of their preferred policies.
Despite the possibility of Democratic gains in November, neither proposal has any chance of winning the 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome a filibuster.
The filibuster makes the Senate the sticking point when major legislation is considered-it's the place where the action is.
The filibuster therefore enjoys strong support from senators of both parties, as it guarantees that they will never be entirely powerless-even when their party is in the minority.
In 2017, 32 Democratic Senators joined 28 Republican colleagues in signing a letter to Senate leaders McConnell and Schumer, expressing support for the filibuster, and "Opposing any effort to curtail the existing rights and prerogatives of Senators to engage in full, robust, and extended debate as we consider legislation before this body in the future." Even non-signatories, such as Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz, have expressed opposition to abolishing the filibuster, as it offers those outside party establishments the most valuable tool to impede bipartisan leadership agreements.
Republicans have held a Senate majority for 16 of the last 26 years, but it's been 111 years since Republicans last held the 60 or more seats now necessary to overcome a Senate filibuster.
"I'm not busting my chops to become majority leader to do very little or nothing," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said recently, as he contemplated ending the filibuster.
https://www.city-journal.org/senate-democrats-unlikely-to-abolish-filibuster
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