Now that they're finding themselves in the minority, Democrats appear to have suddenly warmed up to the filibuster. At the very least, they're not as thrilled about the idea of getting rid of it, though it seems they would have stuck to their relentless approach of trying to nuke an integral part of the Senate, had they been in the majority. Retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) who has long been a champion of the filibuster, including when she was still a member of the Democratic Party, has been chiming in on Democrats' reactions to the filibuster, as we've been covering since not long after the 2024 election.
You don’t say. https://t.co/HsM7ARiiQ1
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) November 11, 2024
What’s the one tool that requires the Senate to work in a bipartisan way?
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) November 18, 2024
Oh look, the filibuster. https://t.co/MKWoTkDT3d
Sinema put out her latest post on Monday to do with the filibuster, as she shared an article from the Washington Examiner published over the weekend.
The retiring senator wanted to particularly highlight quotes from her fellow senators, who were now changing their tune. "Filing under: schadenfreude," she mentioned in her post, referring to the German word for pleasure or amusement or someone else's troubles, truly a fitting use of the phrase here.
Please, please, please stop what you’re doing and read these quotes.
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) November 25, 2024
Filing under: schadenfreude https://t.co/r87ajTpD4F
The actual article features some quotes from those Democrats who will remain in office for the 119th Congress, though they'll be in the minority this time:
“I’d be lying if I said we’d be in a better position without the filibuster,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “We have a responsibility to stop autocratic and long-headed abuse of power or policy, and we’ll use whatever tools we have available. We’re not going to fight this battle with one hand tied behind our back.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) sees the filibuster as “part of the calculation” to how Democrats will spearhead resistance next Congress in a chamber with a 53-47 GOP majority.
“We had to live with it when we were in the majority,” he said.
...
Democrats acknowledge the hypocrisy in their position. But they are staring down a GOP trifecta with a Republican House of Representatives, Senate, and White House.
“I’m going to try not to make a mess of my position on this one,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), who’s long advocated the legislative filibuster’s elimination.
“You play with the rules that exist,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said.
Murphy added that he is open to changes but not to “obliterate” the filibuster, a tool he described in 2021 as “downright dangerous,” a “slap in the face to majoritarianism,” and an “argument that essentially prioritizes consistency over democracy.”
...
Incoming Senate GOP Leader John Thune (R-SD) vowed that the filibuster will be “safe under Republican control,” even if it may stand in Trump’s way.
...
Murphy considers Thune “an honorable guy” but added that he is “always worried that Republicans were going to change the rules if we didn’t.”
That Democrats like those mentioned in the article "acknowledge the hypocrisy in their position" isn't good enough, and it's likely a good thing that they feel they have to be "always worried." They're the ones who started this in 2012 and 2013, with then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) nuking the filibuster in order to get then President Barack Obama's picks more easily confirmed.
With President Joe Biden aggressively pushing for voting legislation in January 2022 that would lead to a federal overhaul of our elections, even likening opponents to segregationists, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) not only put such legislation up for a vote, he also tried to nuke the filibuster in order to get it passed, though that failed.
Later that same year, Schumer tried the same tactic in order to try to pass a piece of radical pro-abortion legislation, the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would actually expand Roe v. Wade by making abortion available in all 50 states for any reason up until birth without legal limit. Schumer's effort failed there as well.
Although Sinema voted for both pieces of legislation, she and retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), who was once also a Democrat himself until earlier this year, refused to vote in favor of nuking the filibuster.
As thanks for her support of a key part of the Senate, was lambasted by Democrats and leftist groups, was censured as punishment.
Not only did Biden push for getting rid of the filibuster in order to get legislation to do with his pet issues passed, but so did Vice President Kamala Harris in her run for president. Harris, as well as Democratic candidates for Senate, such as Rep. Colin Allred in Texas and soon to be former Sen. Bob Casey Jr in Pennsylvania, came out in favor of nuking the filibuster over abortion. Harris, Allred, and Casey all lost, and Harris even lost her endorsement from Manchin over such a move.
Given the plans that Schumer had for getting rid of the filibuster, spurred on by radical far-left groups that also wanted to pack the U.S. Supreme Court, it's no wonder that Sinema is talking about "schadenfreude."
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