Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s firm filibuster stance has made her a bete noire of the Democratic Party’s vocal Left wing.
Sinema’s office told the Washington Post on Monday that she is “against eliminating the filibuster, and she is not open to changing her mind.”
That stance flies in the face of the growing movement to do away with the legislative tool that effectively prevents the passage of legislation without support from 60 senators. In the 50-50 divided Senate, Democrats have the majority due to Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote. But the filibuster rule means 10 Republicans are necessary to join with Democrats to pass legislation.
The Justice Democrats, pro-“Green New Deal” Sunrise Movement, and New Deal strategists circulated a memo last week lobbying against the filibuster.
“A quick strike against the filibuster in January will set Biden up to shepherd his entire agenda through regular order, with full committee involvement and proper levels of oversight and transparency,” it said. MoveOn and Accountable.US have also organized against the filibuster.
Sinema’s statement, though, effectively closed the door to immediate efforts from the Left for eliminating the filibuster in order to push Democratic priorities through a 50-50 divided Senate.
“If you’re gonna be a Democratic filibuster defender, at least hold open the possibility that facts and reality might someday change your mind,” tweeted Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama who now hosts the Pod Save America podcast.
The independent-minded Sinema is used to irritating the Left. Early in the 2020 presidential cycle, when the field was still historically large, she declined to commit to supporting the Democratic nominee for president. She’s joined with Republicans on immigration bills, and, as of 2019, Sinema said that she would prefer to reinstitute the 60-vote threshold for presidential nominations, which both Republicans and Democrats chipped away at in recent years.
Still, it was West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the most centrist Democrat in the Senate, who was long considered the biggest roadblock to getting rid of the filibuster. Over and over, Manchin said that he opposed the “nuclear option.”
Centrist Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine pointed out that, in 2017, a bipartisan group of 60 senators, including two dozen Democrats, signed a letter in support of preserving the filibuster.
But many of those Democrats have softened their stance in recent years as activists organize against the filibuster. Last year, Obama called the filibuster a “Jim Crow relic.”
There was an assumption that pro-filibuster Democrats could slowly move to oppose it, the same kind of openness that President Biden expressed in the event Republicans obstruct his agenda to the point of being unable to govern.
“I feel pretty damn strongly, but I will also tell you this: I am here to get things done,” Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester said. “If all that happens is filibuster after filibuster, roadblock after roadblock, then my opinion may change.”
Sinema’s stern stance on Monday, though, seemed to put the nail in the coffin on filibuster reform efforts.
Those on the Left were not happy about it.
“What a wild statement: ‘Not open to changing her mind!’ Doesn’t matter what information reality brings, or what consequences her stances inflicts, she is settled like stone,” said Ezra Klein, a New York Times opinion writer.
Numerous Democratic priorities such as a $15 minimum wage, statehood for Washington, D.C., gun control measures, and healthcare legislation are unlikely to get the support of 10 Senate Republicans.
The hard opposition to filibuster elimination from both Manchin and Sinema, though, helped Democrats secure what they saw as a win in one legislative battle.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel said in a statement Monday night that he found their stances assurance enough that the filibuster would stay intact, causing him to drop his demand during power-sharing agreements with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that Democrats pledge to keep the filibuster intact, and allowing the agreement to move forward.
