Filibuster Advantages

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We must celebrate the good news that the Democratic Party has gained unified control over all areas of Congress: the House, Senate, and the White House. While we have had control over the White House and Senate in recent terms, the overturning of the Senate means a great deal to us. As we move forward into the upcoming years we will spend in majority, we must discuss the elimination of the filibuster and its implications for our party and the Senate as a whole. The elimination of the filibuster brings great advantages for our party in terms of adopting legislation, such as healthcare, however, we also must recognize that the elimination of this process creates an air of fear and challenges to our parties reputation and adds greatly to our electoral …show more content…
While it doesn't eliminate diversity within the democratic party and does not completely eliminate the chance of a GOP win, we know that without the filibuster it is unlikely for the GOP to be able to block a piece of democratic legislation as they do not have the majority needed to do so. I understand that as a party, we have a goal of passing three bills: the codification of Roe v Wade, an increase in the budget for education spending, and providing aid for Palestinians in the ongoing conflict, potentially calling for a ceasefire. The filibuster as it stands currently poses a great threat to the passage of this legislation for the Democratic party, and allows for Republicans to take the chance to enact their own concessions or legislations (Sinclair 100). For example, most of us remember the 21-hour filibuster made by Ted Cruz in 2013 during the voting on the Affordable Care Act and the National Budget. Not only did Cruz’ decision to filibuster greatly impact the way we were able to implement the Affordable Care Act, it effectively led to the government shutdown and the lack of passage of the national budget (Farenthold). The elimination of the filibuster …show more content…
I believe it would have a similar effect to what is known as the “Midterm Loss” when it comes to presidential parties and midterm elections: because people tend to blame most things that go wrong on the President, the presidential party typically loses seats in Congress during a midterm election (Campbell). With the ease that the Democratic party will have in passing bills, it can seem to constituents that we have too much control, and it will make it easier for people to view the Democratic party in a negative light. “Typically, as now, Americans are more likely to see the Government as too active when a Democratic president is in office than when a Republican is.” (Jones) Additionally, if we have no compromise on legislative points and continually are able to pass Democratic bills, without being debated over during a filibuster, the Moderates, Republicans, and Independents alike will be able to pass blame for all-things-politics, specifically economics, onto the Democratic party due to our having “too much power” or “being too active”. Brady and Volden explain to readers that because we must compromise with each party in Congress, policies are almost never exactly where a party would like them. Most of the laws we see currently are somewhere vastly in the middle between the two parties main viewpoints
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