Advocates Weigh in Following Vote on Bipartisan Jan. 6 Commission: It’s Time to Eliminate the Filibuster and Protect Our Democracy

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2021

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press@fixoursenate.org
press@indivisible.org

Advocates Weigh in Following Vote on Bipartisan Jan. 6 Commission: It’s Time to Eliminate the Filibuster and Protect Our Democracy

“The path forward is clear: The filibuster must be eliminated as a weapon that a minority of senators can wield to veto popular democracy-protecting bills”

Washington, DC — Following the Senate Republicans filibuster of legislation to create a bipartisan commission investigating the January 6 insurrection, Indivisible, Fix Our Senate, and 56 other organizations representing millions of people across the country released the following statement calling on Senate Democrats to finally eliminate the filibuster:

“This is no longer a debate about hypotheticals: Senate Republicans have filibustered a bipartisan bill to form a bipartisan commission investigating an attack on their workplace and the seat of our democracy. Despite Senate Democrats ‘imploring’ Republicans to work with them to get this done, Sen. McConnell and his caucus swatted away every attempt at good faith bipartisan work and committed themselves to partisan obstruction. Now the path forward is clear: The filibuster must be eliminated as a weapon that a minority of senators can wield to veto popular democracy-protecting bills.

“Democrats won the White House, Senate and House on promises to protect our elections, stand up to special interests, and restore our democracy – and they have a mandate for action on the January 6th commission, the For The People Act, and other bills protecting and expanding our democracy. After seeing obstruction in action, Senate Democrats have a choice – they can protect the filibuster or deliver on critical and popular policies to protect our democracy. They won’t be able to do both.”

At the same time GOP legislatures are attacking voting access in states across the country, some Senate Republicans admit there is nothing Democrats can do to get their support for the For The People Act, crucial legislation to ensure voting access and election integrity. Senate Minority Leader McConnell has called blocking the For the People Act his “top priority” and is committed to using the filibuster as a weapon to keep our democracy rigged. Investigating an insurrection and protecting voting rights should not be controversial or partisan legislation, and a minority of Senators should not be able to block such bills.

Progressive momentum and support for eliminating the filibuster continues to build. Last week over 250,000 people joined Senator Merkley, Senator Warren, and advocates and activists across the country in a virtual town hall calling for the elimination of the filibuster. And Fix our Senate and Indivisible joined New York activists in pressuring Senators to end the filibuster with #FilibusterFriday, a weekly momentum-building effort on social media, along with over a dozen partner organizations. The effort includes an action center to help grassroots activists email, call, and tweet their senators to end the filibuster to pass democracy reforms. Last week’s efforts reached over 13 million Twitter users.

The statement was signed by the following organizations