Moderate Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona continues to frustrate Americans across the country with her ongoing bulwark against abolishing or even reforming the Senate filibuster.
Though Democrats have a functional majority in the Senate, the filibuster mandates at least 60 votes to end debate on legislation and bring it to a floor vote. In today's starkly divided political climate, 10 Republicans voting in favor of Democratic legislation is usually a nonstarter.
Nevertheless, Sinema insists the filibuster is necessary, and that lawmakers should continue fruitless efforts toward bipartisanship instead of changing the rules.
Watch the Senator's latest excuse below.
Video of @kyrstensinema explaining her support for the 60-vote rule: pic.twitter.com/2TuxMxjScG
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 2, 2021
Sinema told reporters:
"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."
Currently, the filibuster is actively endangering the democracy of the United States.
It was the filibuster that prevented a vote on a commission examining the failed insurrection of January 6—a direct attack on American democracy, and a vote that Sinema missed.
With former President Donald Trump's election lies sowing major doubts among Republican voters in the viability of the electoral process, majority-Republican legislatures across the country are proposing a slate of voter suppression laws designed to hinder likely-Democratic voters' access to the ballot box.
Democrats in the U.S. Congress have proposed legislation like the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For The People Act—landmark voting rights bills that would secure fairer elections and expand the accessibility of voting, while neutering the voter suppression bills sprouting up across the country.
But the filibuster has rendered it impossible to pass legislation protecting democracy—and people were quick to remind Sinema of her role in preserving it.
Frustrations are building against both Sinema and her fellow Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, another supporter of preserving the filibuster.
Both Senators have signaled they won't be changing their minds.
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