Should Senate Democrats kill the filibuster?

More Senate Democrats are calling for abolishing the filibuster. We discuss the pros and cons to eliminating this increasingly used legislative delay and blocking mechanism.

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The sun sets on the U.S. Capitol building, Thursday, March 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The sun sets on the U.S. Capitol building, Thursday, March 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The calls are growing among Democrats to abolish the filibuster. The debate has heated up as Senators worry that major legislation on voting rights, the environment, immigration, and more may be blocked by the Republican minority. But if the Democrats jettison the procedure while they hold a slim majority, what will happen when they are in the minority? This hour, we’ll look at increasing calls by Democrats to kill the filibuster, discuss the history of the Senate rule, and look at the pros and cons of ending or reforming it. Our guests are ADAM JENTLESON, author of Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate, and NORMAN ORNSTEIN, emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

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