On the recordJanuary 19, 2022
as everyone in this Chamber knows, the filibuster requires a supermajority--60 votes--to proceed on most issues in the Senate. The filibuster is truly the essence of this deliberative body. It is what makes the Senate the Senate. It is what forces collaboration, long-term solutions, and prevents a partisan roller coaster ride of ever-changing laws and rules every 2 years. The filibuster puts the brakes on hasty legislation and helps prevent unintended consequences, which come with most every new law. I ask America this: Do you want more laws or less laws? Do we want more certainty from our government or less certainty? Arguably, the best speeches to keep the filibuster in place have been made by Presidents and Senators from across the aisle. Nothing is more convincing than my Democrat friends' own words. President Obama, then-Senator Obama, said in a floor speech here in 2005: But the American people sent us here to be their voice. They understand that those voices can at times become loud and argumentative, but they also hope we can disagree without being disagreeable. At the end of the day, they expect both parties to work together to get the people's business done. What they do not expect is for one party, be it Republican or Democrat, to change the rules in the middle of the game so they can make all the decisions while the other party is told to sit down and keep quiet.…
