Arizona Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema again defended the Senate filibuster this week.
During a joint press conference with Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, the Democrat said she supports keeping the filibuster because it “protects the democracy of our nation.”
“As folks in Arizona know, I’ve long been a supporter of the filibuster because it is a tool that protects the democracy of our nation, rather than allowing our country to ricochet wildly every two to four years back and forth between policies,” Sinema said.
“The idea of the filibuster was created by those who came before us in the United States Senate to create comity and to encourage senators to find bipartisanship and work together. And while there are some who don’t believe that bipartisanship is possible, I think that I’m a daily example that bipartisanship is possible, not just this trip today and tomorrow that John and I are doing, but the work that John and I, and I and many other of my colleagues in both parties do on a regular basis,” she continued.
She added:
So to those who say we must make a choice between the filibuster and x, I say this is a false choice. The reality is, is that when you have a system that’s not working effectively, and I would think that most would agree that the Senate is not a particularly well-oiled machine, right, the way to fix that is to change your behavior, not to eliminate the rules or change the rules, but to change your behavior. So I’m going to continue to go to work every day, aggressively seeking bipartisanship in a cheerful and happy warrior way as I always do, and showing that when we work together we can get things done.
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A reporter asked Sinema: “A lot of them say that the filibuster is a relic of the Jim Crow era [inaudible] So why would you support the filibuster?”
Sinema held her ground and didn’t change her position.
“Well, the filibuster was not created as a tool to accomplish one thing or another. It was created as a tool to bring together members of different parties to find compromise and a coalition,” Sinema said.
“And you think about our Founding Fathers when they created the Senate with two senators from every state regardless of population size, with elections staggered every six years so that only a third of the body is up for election each cycle, it was designed to be a place where you cool the passions of the House. We work together to find a compromise, and importantly, where you protect the rights of the minority from the majority regardless of which party is in the majority at the time,” she added.
WATCH:
The Senate filibuster is a rule that requires 60 members to end debate on most topics and move to a vote.
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The Senate is currently tied at 50-50, but Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the tie-breaking vote and give Democrats the majority.
Democrats want to end the filibuster so they can ram through several of their radical policies, but they can’t afford a single Democrat to vote against them.
They need all 50 of their votes, which is why Manchin has become such a critical figure.
