Dick Durbin is on the floor torching the modern filibuster, saying it has "become the death grip of democracy."
"Senators can literally phone in a filibuster... Today's filibuster has turned the world's greatest deliberative body into one of the world's most ineffectual bodies."
"Senators can literally phone in a filibuster... Today's filibuster has turned the world's greatest deliberative body into one of the world's most ineffectual bodies."
From there, @SenatorDurbin mentions the DREAM Act, which was filibustered to death in 2010.
A new version of that bill is up for a vote this week in the House, where it's expected to pass. But it faces long odds again in the Senate under the 60-vote rule.
A new version of that bill is up for a vote this week in the House, where it's expected to pass. But it faces long odds again in the Senate under the 60-vote rule.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin says the filibuster has to go. He says there should at least be a "standing filibuster" that requires senators to talk in order to hold up a bill.
"It's time to change the Senate rules," he says. "Stop holding the Senate hostage."
"It's time to change the Senate rules," he says. "Stop holding the Senate hostage."
This is a major shift for Durbin on the filibuster. What he said in 2018 about nixing it: “That would be the end of the Senate as it was originally devised and created going back to our Founding Fathers. We have to acknowledge a respect for the minority.”
Another factor driving Durbin's turn on the filibuster: He's the Senate Judiciary chairman and his issue set includes voting rights, immigration and criminal justice. Democrats have big ambitions on those items — and none have much of a shot at success under the 60-vote rule.
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