| Mitch McConnell is officially retiring after a long career of defending the rights of the filibuster in Congress. With this update — and with how other Senate races are shaping up across the country — we have renewed momentum in our fight to finally abolish the filibuster once and for all. Add your name if you agree, Danielle: It's time to officially end minority rule in our government and abolish the racist and archaic filibuster rule for good. Let's keep raising our voices and pushing for this progress together. The American people are sick and tired of hearing that the policies that are so overwhelmingly popular among voters — voters who voted for a Democratic majority — can't get passed because, well, a minority of Senators disagree with it. It has been used most recently to prevent Democrats in the majority from passing abortion protections and passing federal voting rights. The thing is, the filibuster is found nowhere in the Constitution. Here's how it's become a reliable tool for the anti-democracy minority today: For a vote on a bill to take place in the Senate, a few things have to happen: - A bill is brought to the Floor
- Senators debate the bill
- Senators end debate
- Senators vote on the bill, majority wins
That's the way the Founders intended it to go, at least. Here's the hitch: In 1806, Aaron Burr — yes, the one who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel — said the Senate had too many rules and should get rid of some. One rule that got tossed in the trash can? The rule that said any Senator could propose a vote that would cut off debate. Senators didn't see a need to keep this rule on the book, so they tossed it. That means step #2 (Senators debate the bill) could, in theory, go on forever — if enough Senators were willing to speak long enough on the floor in debate. For years, business generally went on as usual. No one wanted to be "that guy." But then, Senator John Calhoun realized he could exploit this rule change to seize more power for southern slave-holding states. He was among the first to attempt to stop the Senate from voting on legislation by filibustering. In 1917, President Wilson — tired of a Senate that was obstructing more than voting — pressured the Senate to pass a rule to make sure debate wouldn't hold up voting forever and ever. The Senate responded with a rule, called Rule 22 — also called a "Cloture Vote." It looked like the other rule Aaron Burr had thrown in the trash can, except for one enormous difference: To end debate, Rule 22 required a supermajority, or two-thirds of the Senate. Rule 22 didn't solve the problem of endless filibustering. It encouraged gridlock. Because now, a small minority in the Senate could force a bill to get through two votes. A supermajority vote to end debate, and then a simple majority vote to pass the bill. It made no sense. The effects were almost immediate. The year after the Senate established Rule 22, an Anti-Lynching bill was introduced. A small group of Senators hell-bent on upholding white supremacy decided to flex the new rule and filibuster the legislation. The law — which would make the heinous act of lynching Black Americans a crime — took 100 years to overcome the filibuster, and didn't become law until 2022. During the Jim Crow era, southern Senators continued to use the filibuster as a tool to block civil rights legislation — and only civil rights legislation. Today, the filibuster is more common than ever — to keep blocking civil rights legislation, voting rights, abortion protections, federal minimum wage increases, climate action, workers' rights, anti-gerrymandering laws….you name it. It's bone-deep enraging that a majority of Democratic Senators cannot pass legislation that the majority of Americans support because of this rule. It's bone-deep enraging that Americans have just needed to accept the filibuster as "the way it is." It's bone-deep enraging that organizers and voters have fought so hard to make progress on these issues only to hit a wall every single time. I reject this. This is not how democracy works. There's finally a crack in this wall — and this is a moment to fight with everything we've got. So I'm fighting like hell to make sure Democrats win in November and we expand our Senate majority. With that, we can finally end the filibuster, and pass legislation that the majority of Americans are calling for — like abortion protections, voting rights, gun safety laws, and so, so much more. Add your name to say you're in this fight: Now is the time to end the filibuster. Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth  | 
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