In the op-ed, Sinema warns about what has come to be known as “ricochet” legislating: the idea that while Democrats could use the lowering of the threshold from 60 votes to 50 votes to push through their agenda, Republicans could just as easily undo it and pass their own agenda.
“This question is less about the immediate results from any of these Democratic or Republican goals — it is the likelihood of repeated radical reversals in federal policy, cementing uncertainty, deepening divisions and further eroding Americans’ confidence in our government,” Sinema said.
Maybe the most interesting part of the op-ed, though, is what Sinema says about her Democratic colleagues.
“Good-faith arguments have been made both criticizing and defending the Senate’s 60-vote threshold,” Sinema said. “I share the belief expressed in 2017 by 31 Senate Democrats opposing elimination of the filibuster — a belief shared by President Biden. While I am confident that several senators in my party still share that belief, the Senate has not held a debate on the matter.
“It is time for the Senate to debate the legislative filibuster, so senators and our constituents can hear and fully consider the concerns and consequences.”
It’s too simplistic to say that she’s calling her own colleagues flip-floppers, but she would very much like to remind you that the position she has staked out was very recently the norm in her conference. As The Post’s JM Rieger recapped last week, 39 Democratic senators who now support changing or eliminating the filibuster previously opposed doing so.
Things do change. Democrats who argued against nixing the filibuster when Republicans controlled the Senate argue the GOP’s obstruction now calls for such a drastic move. They say the stakes are too high on things like voting rights.
But it’s not just Sinema gumming up the works. As Rieger noted, 45 of 50 Democratic senators have called for changing the filibuster rules, but just 17 have called for eliminating it altogether. (Stay tuned to The Fix for an updated whip count in the coming days.)
That leaves a majority of Democratic senators who haven’t signed on to the full elimination of the filibuster that the activist and socialmedia base is pushing hard right now. It also leaves a handful of senators, beyond Sinema, who haven’t really weighed in substantially in favor of any changes. (Even Manchin has floated changes to the filibuster rules, which that handful hasn’t done.)
But while Sinema suggests the Senate should hold a formal debate on the filibuster, she knows that’s unnecessary. Senators could just as easily make their opinions known publicly on this issue of significant import. Many of them have simply and conspicuously avoided doing so, offering broad comments about looking at the issue and listening to both sides of the debate.
That has left the likes of Sinema and Manchin to serve as something of a heat shield for a bunch of senators, as the party’s base laments the lack of progress on its agenda. There’s currently a million-dollar ad buy in Arizona accusing Sinema of “supporting a Jim Crow relic.” Even Biden recently seemed to isolate Sinema and Manchin’s filibuster position as the true obstacle to his agenda — despite his own past reluctance to go nuclear on the filibuster.
Sinema’s plea appears to be: Maybe a few of you could speak up? Maybe you could allow yourselves to be the issue, and not just me and Joe? When she says, “While I am confident that several senators in my party still share that belief,” she’s pointing a giant blinking arrow at her colleagues who haven’t been as forthright as she has. Among those who have avoided a hard position is her Arizona colleague Sen. Mark Kelly (D), but he’s not the subject of that ad buy. She’s also pointing at Biden himself, perhaps cautioning him against calling her out like he did a few weeks ago.
Whatever one thinks of Sinema’s filibuster stance — and the debate over the filibuster is often vastly oversimplified as a boon to Democrats that some Democrats just refuse to go along with — that’s an extremely valid point. Pressuring Manchin and Sinema makes sense, given they are probably the two most moderate Democrats in the Senate, and converting them would put pressure on the rest. But that pressure could just as easily come from converting more left-leaning senators who haven’t gone as far as the base wants, either. The Senate conference just isn’t close right now to Sinema and Manchin truly being the deciding votes.
Sinema’s op-ed will mean she keeps taking that heat. But in writing it, she makes a compelling case that that’s not really fair to her — or perhaps even productive for filibuster opponents.
"colleague" - Google News
June 22, 2021 at 09:03PM
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Sinema calls out her Democratic colleagues on the filibuster — gently - The Washington Post
"colleague" - Google News
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