The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fight over rules grinds Senate to a halt
Mcconnell warns that without filibuster there will be no cooperation.
WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden took office last week, he promised sweeping, bipartisan legislation to solve the coronavirus pandemic, fix the economy and overhaul immigration.
Just days later, the Senate ground to a halt, with Democrats and Republicans unable to agree on even basic rules for how the evenly divided body should operate.
Meanwhile, key Republicans have quickly signaled discomfort with — or outright dismissal of — the cornerstone of Biden’s early legislative agenda, a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan that includes measures including $1,400 stimulus checks, vaccine distribution funding and a $15 minimum wage.
On top of that, senators are preparing for a wrenching second impeachment trial for former president Donald Trump, set to begin Feb. 9, which could mire all other Senate business and further obliterate any hopes of cross-party cooperation.
Taken together, this gridlock could imperil Biden’s entire early presidency, making it impossible for him to deliver on key promises as he contends with dueling crises.
This reality could force Democrats to choose within a matter of weeks whether they will continue to pursue the sort of bipartisan cooperation that Biden — and many senators of both parties — has preached or instead pursue procedural shortcuts or rule changes that would sideline the GOP but also are likely to divide their caucus.
“Things move faster and faster nowadays,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., commenting on the rising tensions Friday. “It doesn’t seem like there’s a honeymoon period.”
Much of the conflict over the Senate rules comes courtesy of veteran Republican Sen. Mitch Mcconnell of Kentucky, who transitioned to minority leader Wednesday after six years as majority leader.
Hours after Biden’s inauguration, moments after a smiling Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was recognized as majority leader, Mcconnell pointedly noted on the Senate floor that the country elected a smaller House Democratic majority, an evenly split Senate and a “president who promised unity.”
“The people intentionally entrusted both political sides with significant power to shape our nation’s direction,” he said. “May we work together to honor that trust.”
Two days earlier, he had notified his Republican colleagues in the Senate that he would deliver Schumer a sharp ultimatum: Agree to preserve the legislative filibuster, the centerpiece of minority power in the Senate, or forget about any semblance of cooperation — starting with an agreement on the chamber’s operat
ing rules.
The calculations for Mcconnell, according to Republicans, are simple. Not only is preserving the filibuster a matter that Republicans can unify around, it is something that potentially divides Democrats, who are under enormous pressure to discard it to advance their governing agenda.
The Senate filibuster has evolved over the course of its history into a de facto supermajority requirement, requiring 60 votes to end debate and advance legislation. Rarely has one party held enough votes to defeat filibusters without at least some cross-aisle cooperation.
The rule has been eroded over the past decade. After Mcconnell led a broad blockade of President Barack Obama’s nominees, Democrats under then-senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-nev., in 2013 allowed executive appointees and lower-court judges to be advanced with a simple majority vote.
Mcconnell, in turn, eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees when Democrats threatened to block the nomination of Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and two years later changed the rules to more quickly confirm presidential nominees.
Mcconnell and other Republicans last week reminded Democrats that many of them praised the filibuster in the past — particularly in the two-year period in 2017 and 2018 when the GOP controlled the House, Senate and White House. Twenty-seven Senate Democrats who now serve signed an April 2017 letter calling on Schumer to preserve the status quo.
But most of those Democrats — who watched Mcconnell exempt Republican nominees from filibuster rules where he saw fit under Trump, after using them to the GOP’S advantage for six years before that to block Obama’s legislation and nominees — now find his early power move to be infuriating.
“We’re not going to go along with it,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-hawaii, who was among those who signed the 2017 letter. “There will be some kind of resolution that does not involve Mitch Mcconnell getting what he wants.”
Schumer said as much Friday on the Senate floor.
“What’s fair is fair,” Schumer said, noting that Mcconnell changed Senate rules twice as majority leader. “Leader Mcconnell’s proposal is unacceptable, and it won’t be accepted.”
Without an organizing accord, Republicans remain in the majority of most Senate committees — veteran GOP lawmakers such as Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa, Richard Shelby of Alabama and James Inhofe of Oklahoma continue as chairs of key panels while veteran Democrats eager to seize the gavels and advance their long dormant agendas can only wait and wonder.
Panel budgets and staff hiring also remain frozen pending a deal.
Many senators and aides believe the matter can be settled quickly with Schumer acknowledging reality — that many Democrats, including Biden, are not convinced that the filibuster needs to be scrapped.
Fix Our Senate, a coalition of progressive and labor groups formed to advocate for filibuster elimination, has already launched a six-figure ad campaign and plans to deploy field operatives in states where Democratic senators have expressed reluctance to ditch the rule.
The pressure is also coming from within the Democratic caucus itself, where key voices are urging Schumer not to let Republicans weaponize Senate rules — even as Mcconnell threatens to paint them as hypocrites for abandoning their pledges of bipartisanship.
“Millions of people are giving up on their government because they’re hurting, and we are not responding,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., who caucuses with Democrats and will have a key role in the reconciliation process as the incoming Budget Committee chairman. “We have an enormous agenda and we have got to move as quickly as we can, and in my view we’ve got to use all of the tools that are available.”
The path ahead is likely to be decided by a small group of moderate Democrats, elected from red and purple states, who have signaled support for keeping the filibuster while hinting that their patience for partisan obstruction might not be infinite.
Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.VA., has been the most outspoken Democratic opponent of changing Senate rules and has sought to assemble a bipartisan cadre of centrist senators willing to hammer out deals across the aisle. Other Democratic senators — including Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — have also signaled support for the status quo while also hinting that GOP stonewalling could change their minds.
Manchin told reporters last week that when it comes to a dysfunctional Senate there is one Democrat he may take his cues from going forward.
“If there’s one person who can make it work, it’s Joe Biden,” he said.