It’s been a big week in Washington, with the Senate majority blocked from passing their own laws
It was a blow for the US Democratic party this week when Republican lawmakers moved to rely on the controversial filibuster rule to prevent proposed sweeping voter protections from becoming law.
US Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer labeled the move as “voter suppression”, with many of his colleagues now concerned that the rule is destroying America’s already fragile democracy.
In many respects, you can see where they are coming from – despite what side of the political coin you fall on.
The Senate’s filibuster rule works by requiring proposed legislation to receive a supermajority before it can progress from a discussion to a vote and, ultimately, become law.
In the Senate, this means that bills must receive support from 60 of the 100 elected Senators – an issue when the Democrats hold the narrowest of majorities with just 51 seats.
The filibuster rule has only been used one other time this session, when it was enacted to block the vote on a bipartisan commission into the deadly January 6 Capitol Riots. But it has been gaining traction over the past decade.
This time, it was used to block the “For the People Act” – a wide-range of measures designed to prevent Republican-led states from implementing new restrictive voting measures.
Particularly, Democrats say the Republican states are trying to make it more difficult for minorities and lower-income Americans from casting their vote and having their say come election time.
Republicans defend their actions as necessary to protect the safety of future US elections.
However, despite all of this, and despite whether or not you believe that the voter restrictions are good or bad, the filibuster rule goes against everything America’s democracy claims to be.
When a government or a party is elected into power by the people who live and breathe the values of the country – they should have the control to lead the country as they see fit.
Just as the Republicans were able to control the agenda in the Senate’s previous session, the Democrats should be able to control the agenda now.
At the end of the day, what is the point of voting in a senate majority if this majority can’t actually pass any laws?
