“Well, that’s a non-starter, because if we gave him that, then the filibuster would be on everything, every day,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. At issue is a rule that is at the heart of the consensus-driven Senate, which effectively mandates that any legislation draw 60 votes to advance. In calling for the Democratic commitment, Mr. McConnell noted that Democrats relied on the filibuster themselves when Donald J. Trump was president and Republicans held the Senate. “Democrats used it constantly, as they had every right to,” he said on the floor last week. The new majority leader seems content for now to let Democrats and Mr. Biden, a former longtime senator who has been reluctant to overturn the filibuster, simmer over Republican tactics.

Source: New York Times January 25, 2021 15:00 UTC