Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is now floating the idea of killing the Senate's filibuster with both Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) set to leave after their terms.
Sinema and Manchin were key to preventing Democrats from killing the filibuster before but without them, Schumer and the rest of the Democrats are looking forward to finally having their way.
This assumes that Democrats maintain control of the Senate after the 2024 presidential election.
Schumer told reporters, "When people attempt — courts or legislators — to take away voting rights, particularly of the most disenfranchised people, we have an obligation to do everything we can to restore those voting rights."
The Democrat Party has made a habit of making any minor issue into a crisis and they need all the power to fix it. In reality, the filibuster is the only tool that a minority party has to stop the majority party and Republicans have used it to great effect several times in the past few years.
Republicans have obstructed the Democrat Party's liberal agenda on several key occasions and progressives have had enough.
The only way that the Democrat Party can get any major policy wins is to kill the filibuster and deny Republicans the opportunity to slam the breaks on the progressive agenda.
While Schumer wants to seize power and crush his opposition, he faces some incredible obstacles to turn that wish into a reality.
While Sinema and Manchin are gone in January, there are other Democrats who may not be in favor of outright abolishing the filibuster, especially with the possibility of losing the Senate.
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) is one Senator who supports reform but many observers believe he would oppose outright abolishment.
Durbin may not be alone as other Democrats may be considering the possibility of losing the Senate and what having no filibuster would mean for the Senate in Republican hands.
Both sides of the aisle are extremely cautious when it comes to the filibuster. When former President Donald Trump asked Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to kill the filibuster, he refused and that might have saved a lot of pain, even at the cost of Trump's plans.
If Republicans can retake the Senate, which is entirely possible, this question of killing the filibuster will be shelved until the next switch of control.
If Democrats kill the filibuster before the election and the Senate flips, they will be in a world of hell for the next couple of years.
