When President Biden called out two members of the Senate Democratic caucus for voting “more with my Republican friends” on Tuesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the dig was not subtle. Everyone knew he meant Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, both dug in against reforming the filibuster rules. The quip was inaccurate, but a sign of Biden’s growing frustration and his attempt to pressure them into allowing his agenda items to make it to his desk over Republican opposition.
Even to make changes to (if not to eliminate) the filibuster would require the assent of Manchin and Sinema. For her part, Sinema gave an incoherent defense of retaining the filibuster while standing beside GOP Sen. John Cornyn (Texas).
With so much discussion about eliminating the Jim Crow-era Senate procedure, there has been less discussion of what modifications to the filibuster the two Democrats would accept. Bringing back the talking filibuster, for example.
Why the filibuster debate is the wrong debate
An Associated Press/NORC poll last month found that Biden enjoys an enviable 63% job approval rating. FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker shows Biden with a 53.4% average (June 2).
Polls last month from left-leaning Data for Progress and Southern Poverty Law Center found over 60% in favor of the For the People Act (HR 1) for protecting voting rights. The SPLC poll found 55% of voters agreed that “a simple majority of Senators should be required to pass any bill in the U.S. Senate.”
A The Economist/YouGov Poll released days ago posed this question: “The U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule lets a minority of Senators prevent voting on a bill unless 60 out of 100 Senators vote to end the filibuster. Is this a good or bad rule?”
Good: 36%
Bad: 28%
Not sure: 36%
Asked if the filibuster rule was “mostly good” or “mostly bad,” respondents split 50-50.
Two points.
Reporters need to ask Manchin and Sinema what constituency they believe there is in their states (or in any other senator’s) for the Senate filibuster? How many voters are asking them to preserve it? As opposed to voter interest in passing a comprehensive infrastructure plan to bring jobs there? Or for any other of the popular Biden agenda items?
Second (and this is important for activists and Senate Democrats), voters are not interested in this fight over Senate procedure. Voters are interested in their families’ physical and financial health and in basic fairness. Stop obsessing over rule changes and Sinema/Manchin and start loudly touting the benefits voters will receive from passage of the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan and the For the People Act, etc.
Navel-gazing over the filibuster is the sort of inside-the-Beltway fight voters see as evidence that both major parties are out of touch. They want tangible improvements in their lives.
How much would Manchin be willing to bend to get high-speed internet across West Virginia?