Since mid-summer, Democrats have been trapped in a downward spiral of declining approval ratings for President Joe Biden, rising public anxiety about the country’s direction, and widening internal divisions over the party’s legislative agenda. The next few weeks will likely determine whether they have bottomed out and can begin to […] Read more »
The Democrats’ Last Best Shot to Kill the Filibuster
From multiple directions, the crisis over the filibuster is peaking for Democrats. … Reform advocates don’t expect Democrats to resolve the latest standoff by exempting the debt ceiling from the filibuster—most bet that the party will eventually turn to the special budget-reconciliation process to pass the increase. But they do […] Read more »
When Will Biden Join the Fight for Voting Rights?
Don’t look now, but the Senate is quietly becoming what it used to be: an institution ruled by a simple majority. At least, for certain kinds of legislation. Despite his institutionalist reputation, President Biden is on track to become the most productive Democratic president in a generation, not because he […] Read more »
The Tool That Joe Biden Refuses to Use
For all the passionate words President Joe Biden delivered in defense of voting rights in his speech yesterday, it was the one word he never mentioned that provoked the strongest response from civil-rights advocates: filibuster. Nowhere in his remarks did Biden utter what may go down as the political word […] Read more »
The Democrats’ New Voting-Rights Obstacle
There is a gnawing anxiety among voting-rights advocates that even if Democrats find a way to roll back the Senate filibuster and pass new federal legislation safeguarding access to the ballot, the Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court might still strike it down. Last week’s Supreme Court ruling, in which […] Read more »
The Only Way to Save Voting Rights
Today’s Supreme Court decision further weakening the Voting Rights Act affirmed that the only way Democrats can reverse the wave of restrictive voting laws in GOP-controlled states is to pass new federal voting rights by curtailing the Senate filibuster. Congressional action has long seemed the only realistic lever for Democrats […] Read more »