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Filibuster for me, but not for thee.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), an outspoken critic of the Senate filibuster, indicated Monday that she will not support axing the procedural hurdle as long as Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress.
“Am I championing getting rid of the filibuster now when the Senate has the trifecta? No,” the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
“But had we had the trifecta, I would have been, because we have to show that government can deliver,” Jayapal added.
The Senate filibuster rule, which requires a 60-vote threshold to end debate and pass most types of legislation in the upper chamber, is seen as the best chance Democrats have at blocking the adoption of President-elect Donald Trump agenda – with Republicans taking a 53-47 seat advantage in the Senate and expected to retain a slim majority in the House.
Jayapal, as recently as September, was pushing to “abolish” what she called the “Jim Crow filibuster.”
“The filibuster was originally created *by mistake* in 1806,” she wrote on X. “Every day we don’t abolish it is just as big a mistake.”
The Washington Democrat dislikes that the procedural tool makes it difficult for progressives to ram their agenda through Congress.
“It’s the filibuster OR an assault weapons ban. It’s the filibuster OR codified abortion access. It’s the filibuster OR raising the minimum wage. It’s the filibuster OR protecting voting rights. The choice is clear. Abolish the Jim Crow filibuster,” Jayapal tweeted.
The progressive rep argued Monday that passing a liberal agenda would’ve “built some trust with the American people.”
“If we had had control of the trifecta and gotten rid of the filibuster to pass minimum wage, to pass paid sick leave, to pass many of these things that are passing – abortion access – that are passing on ballot measures that are so popular … then I think we would have built some trust with the American people,” Jayapal argued.
“Republicans, don’t forget, already got rid of the filibuster, for taxes,” she added.
“And so I think that I don’t think it’s in opposition at all,” Jayapal said, when asked how she squares her previous demands to end the filibuster were her new found support for it.
Sens. John Thune (R-SD), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) – believed to be the leading candidates to serve as Senate majority leader next year – have all recently expressed opposition to ending the filibuster.
