Tell your Senators: End or Reform the Filibuster!
Call BOTH of your Senators.
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
For far too long the Senate filibuster has been used to block essential legislation and civil rights laws that serve and protect We the People. I urge you to eliminate the filibuster entirely. If that proves politically impossible, then at a minimum you must prevent the filibuster from being used to block emergency pandemic, economic-relief, healthcare-expansion, climate-catastrophe, racial-equity, and voting-rights legislation. And also prevent it from being used to block statehood for the District of Columbia. If the filibuster has to be retained for some matters, its operation must be returned to the original requirement that filibustering senators have to hold the floor in a public display of their obstruction so that their sabotage is no longer done in the darkness of a Senate backroom.
Background
Before the Civil War, the filibuster was used to preserve slavery against abolitionism. Afterwards it was used to establish and maintain Jim Crow segregation and denial of voting rights to nonwhite citizens. In the 20th Century it was used to delay and water down the right to join a union, Social Security and Medicare, education, housing, and healthcare. And it was used as a formidable weapon against environmental protection, racial justice, health, safety, and Wall Street regulation.
In modern times, the Senate has chosen to exempt from the filibuster certain kinds of legislation such as War Powers resolutions, budget reconciliations, and regulatory oversight through the Congressional Review Act. And during the Trump regime, judicial nominations and cabinet appointments were also exempted.
The filibuster is not part of the Constitution. It is a procedural rule adopted (and changed) by a simple majority vote of the senators themselves. In the Obama years, Republicans used the filibuster to block, delay, or water-down almost every single Democratic proposal. Under rules that the Republican majority adopted during the Trump regime, Democrats cannot filibuster against things that Republicans want like right-wing judges and tax-cuts for the obscenely wealthy, but Republicans can filibuster against issues that Democrats ran on during the election and that won them the White House such as raising the minimum wage, increasing social spending, voting and labor rights, and stronger health, safety, and financial regulation. The deal Schumer announced on Monday prevented Republicans from making matters worse, but the old Republican filibuster rules are still in force.
Now that Democrats hold both the White House and a slim Senate majority they can eliminate the filibuster or revise filibuster rules – if they maintain unity and have the will to fight.
References
Progressives pressure Schumer to end filibuster ~ Axios, 1/24/21
War Over Filibuster, a Famed Stalling Tactic, Stops the Senate From the Start ~ NY Times, 1/25/21
Senate Stuck in Limbo ~ The Hill, 1/25/21
Durbin: Senate should consider changes to filibuster, The Hill, 1/24/21