Democrats have fallen back in love with the filibuster.
Mere weeks into President Trump’s second term, Senate Democrats are already making liberal use of the obstructive maneuver, flying in the face of recent efforts by the party to abolish it.
“There’s only one party in Washington that’s been consistent on this issue, and it is not the Democrats. They favor the filibuster when it’s convenient for them, and they try to abolish it when it stands in the way of their far-left agenda,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told The Post.
“The only thing that surprises me at this point is how casually and shamelessly they abandon their pursuit to scrap the filibuster when it doesn’t suit their immediate political needs.”
The procedural hold used by the minority party has the effect of forcing legislation in the chamber to require 60 votes to pass — a nearly impossible threshold for most legislation in closely-divided Congress.
They can occasionally be theatrical, and involve a senator holding the floor indefinitely to prevent other Senate business — as dramatized in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
In 2013 Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spoke for 21 hours straight to try and stop Obamacare — a rant which includes discourses on “Green Eggs and Ham” and Wrestlemania.
Former South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 1957 filibuster in opposition to landmark civil rights legislation remains the longest in history at just over 24 hours.
Last month, Senate Democrats used the filibuster to block sanctions on the International Criminal Court, in response to the court’s widely condemned decision to put sanctions on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Behind the scenes, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urged his colleagues to stonewall the bill, according to Axios.
Just days earlier, Senate Democrats used the filibuster to kill the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” a bill introduced by Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford mandating health care professionals provide the “same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence” for a child born alive during an attempted abortion, as they would during normal childbirth.
The Dems’ new infatuation with the filibuster is a far cry from January 2022, when Democrats controlled the Senate and 48 of them voted to eliminate it while Republicans used the procedural move with gusto.
Shortly before the 2024 presidential election, Schumer strongly implied nuking the filibuster once and for all would be on the agenda should Democrats hold the Senate.
“We came close last time, as you remember, we couldn’t change the rules, but I think there would be a consensus in my caucus to try and do that,” Schumer told Politico just days before Democrats’ election.
