What did Sen. Kyrsten Sinema say about the filibuster?
KYRSTEN Sinema is the current senior United States Senator of Arizona.
Sinema became the first woman ever in Arizona's history to represent the state in the Senate, and the first Democrat elected to the seat since the 1980s.
What did Kyrsten Sinema say about the filibuster?
In a last year, Kyrsten Sinema defended her opposition to abolishing the 60-vote legislative filibuster.
The Arizona Senator said abolishing the filibuster would weaken "democracy's guardrails."
"If anyone expected me to reverse my position because my party now controls the Senate, they should know that my approach to legislating in Congress is the same whether in the minority or majority," Sinema wrote.
"My support for retaining the 60-vote threshold is not based on the importance of any particular policy. It is based on what is best for our democracy.
The filibuster compels moderation and helps protect the country from wild swings between opposing policy poles," she continued.
"I will not support an action that damages our democracy."
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Sinema stated that it is "time for the Senate to debate the legislative filibuster," so senators and constituents "can hear and fully consider the concerns and consequences."
"Hopefully, senators can then focus on crafting policies through open legislative processes and amendments, finding compromises that earn broad support," she added.
Sinema continued, "Instability, partisanship, and tribalism continue to infect our politics.
"The solution, however, is not to continue weakening our democracy’s guardrails. If we eliminate the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, we will lose much more than we gain."
What is a filibuster?
Filibustering is to deliberately waste time during a debate by making overlong speeches or raising unnecessary procedural points.
It means a bill or a motion may be "talked out" and stopped from making progress within the time allowed.
The practice goes as far back as the Roman Senate but has been used, and some may say abused, in democracies ever since.
It is often viewed as archaic and regressive because an older version of the filibuster was used by segregationists to block civil rights legislation.
The term is derived from the Spanish word “filibustero” meaning “pirate” and was first used in a political context by an American Congressman in 1853.
Around the world, they have various rules attached to them but in the US, Senators are allowed to read out recipes or even the phonebook to run the clock down.
But in Britain MPs have to stay on point and current rules prevent them from lasting more than four hours.
What was the outcome of the vote for the filibuster?
Senators voted to keep the filibuster in place after two Democrats voted alongside Republicans.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) voted that the filibuster should be kept, stating it is part of democracy.
In a statement, Sinema said the filibuster vote "must not be the end of our work to protect our democracy," adding, “these challenges cannot be solved by one party or Washington alone.”
The outcome poses one more roadblock in the voting rights bill President Joe Biden is advocating for.
Some states are making it more difficult for Black Americans to vote in elections by consolidating voting booths, shortening the voting hours, and requiring voters to provide certain types of identification.
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Democrats are trying to pass is the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act bill which would make election day a national holiday and would require states to allow mail-in ballots and increased voting hours.
In a statement after the vote, Biden said, "I am profoundly disappointed," but he vows to continue to "explore every measure and use every tool at our disposal to stand up for democracy.”
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