January 25, 2021

The Senate Filibuster Has Already Been Abolished

Consolidated News Photos/CNP via ZUMA Wire)

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At the risk of saying the obvious, isn’t it true that the legislative filibuster has already been abolished? Sure, there hasn’t been an official announcement or anything, but everyone agrees that the majority party can pass a piece of legislation with 51 votes anytime they feel like it.¹ It just takes a simple point of order and a ruling from the vice president.

The fact that no one has done this yet is immaterial. What matters is the consensus that it can be done at will. This means the filibuster no longer exists in any meaningful way. So how about if we forget about it and move on?

¹Assuming that the Senate and the White House are controlled by the same party. But that’s been the case for all but two years of the past decade and it’s the case now.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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