A Democratic leader who once likened the filibuster to Jim Crow policies that enforced racial segregation backtracked on eliminating the political procedure now that Republicans control the White House, Senate and House.
The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., has long been a proponent of abolishing the filibuster in the Senate, which typically involves prolonging a debate to delay or block the vote on proposed legislation, making it so most legislation needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate instead of a simple majority.
During a Monday news conference to introduce new Congress members and discuss issues they hope to address, Jayapal, who has served in the House since 2017, told reporters she no longer wants to end the filibuster.
"Am I championing getting rid of the filibuster now, when the Senate has the trifecta? No," Jayapal told journalists at the news conference. "But had we had the trifecta, I would have been because we have to show that government can deliver."
"If we had had control of the trifecta and gotten rid of the filibuster to pass minimum wage, to pass paid sick leave, to pass many of these things that are passing — abortion access — that are passing on ballot measures that are so popular … then I think we would have built some trust with the American people," she added.
The 59-year-old argued that her newfound support for keeping the filibuster does not contradict her previous views, claiming that Republicans "already got rid of the filibuster, for taxes."
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, however, the process of "reconciliation" allows for expedited consideration of certain legislation related to taxes, spending and the debt limit. These reconciliation bills are not subject to the filibuster in the Senate.
In September, the progressive caucus chair issued a statement about the filibuster before Election Day, declaring, "The choice is clear. Abolish the Jim Crow filibuster."
"It's the filibuster OR an assault weapons ban. It's the filibuster OR codified abortion access. It's the filibuster OR raising the minimum wage. It's the filibuster OR protecting voting rights," she wrote.
The Democratic leader also called for eliminating the filibuster in a May 2022 statement, arguing that this "shouldn't be a hard decision." Jayapal maintained that the filibuster would halt bills related to gun reform, abortion and voting rights. In another X post from September, the Democratic Party member claimed that the filibuster was "originally created *by mistake* in 1806."
"Every day we don't abolish it is just as big a mistake," she added.
However, her tune seems to have changed after former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Republicans also recaptured control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 2021 and maintained control of the House of Representatives.
Jayapal is not the only politician who has called for ending the filibuster, as former President Barack Obama expressed support for ending it during the funeral of Democratic Rep. John Lewis in 2020.
Obama urged political leaders to carry on the legacy of the civil rights icon by passing reforms, such as a voting rights act named in Lewis' honor, Politico reported at the time.
"And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that's what we should do," Obama said.
During the 2024 presidential election campaign, Vice President Harris told WPR's "Wisconsin Today" that she would support ending the filibuster to restore Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 ruling, allowing states to once again dictate their own abortion laws.
"I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe," Harris, a former U.S. senator from California, said during the September interview. "And get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do."
Harris supported ending the filibuster in 2022 to push forward legislation on abortion and voting rights, as WPR reported. As a senator in 2019, Harris advocated for abolishing the filibuster to pass the Green New Deal, a piece of environmental legislation conservatives estimated would cost between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over the next decade.
