Citing the likelihood that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will obstruct a bipartisan House bill that would create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, progressive lawmakers and campaigners in recent days intensified demands to end the filibuster.

“There are Republicans who still refuse to acknowledge that Biden won the election. And we’re supposed to think that they’ll magically work with us on passing our agenda?”
Click Here: France Rugby Shop—Rep. Pramila Jayapal

House lawmakers voted 252-175 last Wednesday to establish an expert commission to probe the events of January 6, when a mob consisting mostly of supporters of former President Donald Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen stormed the Capitol, resulting in five deaths, a delay of the certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, and Trump’s subsequent impeachment. 

Thirty-five House Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in voting for the bill. However, it is highly unlikely that the measure will garner the requisite support of 10 GOP senators needed to avoid a possible filibuster, as McConnell (R-Ky.) appears poised to use the ultimate obstructionist weapon to torpedo the bill. 

GOP intransigence has sharpened Democratic opposition to the filibuster, which is especially robust among progressive lawmakers and campaigners.

“The American people voted for progress, and we need to deliver,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) asserted Sunday. “It makes no sense that one member of the minority party can trigger a minority veto. That’s not what people voted for.”

Noting that “there are Republicans who still refuse to acknowledge that Biden won the election,” Rep. Pramilia Jayapal (D-Wash.) tweeted Monday that the Senate must “end the filibuster so we can get to work.” 

That work includes passing the For the People Act (pdf), a sweeping pro-democracy bill that would expand voting rights including for former felons, curtail partisan gerrymandering, strengthen ethics rules, limit money in politics and implement the DISCLOSE Act, and make Washington, D.C. a state—among other reforms.

Although the House passed the bill in early March without a single Republican vote, the threat of a GOP filibuster bodes ominously for its Senate prospects. This has increasingly spurred Democratic lawmakers and pro-democracy campaigners to link the possibility of legislative success with ending the filibuster. 

Appearing on WCVB‘s “On the Record” Sunday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said, “I’m ready to sign up and say it’s time to get rid of the filibuster.”

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