It was the most explicit call yet by a Democrat leader to take action. Mr. Durbin noted that it was Mr. McConnell who institutionalized the use of the filibuster, which historically had been used rarely before the Kentuckian was in charge. “I brought it to the Senate floor on five different occasions, and on five different occasions, it was stopped by the filibuster,” Mr. Durbin said on Tuesday. Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia and one of the party’s leading opponents to ending the filibuster, has also said he would entertain the idea of requiring talking filibusters. Democrats say they are not yet ready to move ahead with any attempt to overhaul the filibuster rules and they also lack votes in their own party to do so at the moment.

Source: International New York Times March 17, 2021 01:30 UTC