Will Republicans Get Rid of the Legislative Filibuster Next?
It depends: Is there a legislative fight that could convince individual GOP senators to give up their own power?
Article/Op-Ed in Vox
Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com
April 7, 2017
Lee Drutman wrote for Vox's Polyarchy about whether Senate Republicans will do away with the 60-vote threshold for legislation:
The expectation that the majority might one day be in the minority, and want to keep the filibuster, also seems less compelling now that the filibuster is gone for Supreme Court nominees. There’s little reason to expect Democrats to keep the legislative filibuster if they ever get into the majority. So Republicans may as well take it now, when they can use it.
But will they? It depends. Individual senators don’t want to give up their power. So they’d need a big policy goal to convince them to do just that. And they’d need to be united in their support for that goal. The major Trump administration agenda items, like health care, taxes, and infrastructure, don’t inspire the unity or moral force for getting rid of the legislative filibuster.