HILL STAFF VIEWS: 80 Percent of Hill Aides Say Keep the Senate Filibuster
(QUICK READ) — A super majority of congressional aides representing both political parties think the Senate filibuster should be preserved, indicating the presence of an unexpected traditional conservative perspective on the importance of long-standing legislative processes.
Fully 82 percent of the Republican aides responding to the latest CNCT Capitol Pulse survey of congressional aides said keep the filibuster, while 77 percent of the responding Democratic aides agreed with that perspective.
The responses of men and women aides mirrored the near-unanimity of the party identification, with 93 percent of the Republican women and 89 percent of the Democratic women saying keep the filibuster.
Among respondents indicating their support of killing the filibuster, the highest percentage by group was the 20 percent of Democratic men. The 17 percent of GOP communications directors was the highest response in favor of ending the filibuster among Republican aides.
The filibuster enables senators who oppose a proposed Senate action to delay the vote as long as they are physically able. Under current rules, the Senate must muster 60 votes in favor of “cloture,” that is, declaring debate will continue only for a maximum of 30 hours, followed by a final vote on the controversial proposal.
Some Senate GOPers — frustrated by Democrats taking advantage of the 60 vote threshold 14 times to keep the government shutdown in place — favor reducing the cloture vote requirement to a simple majority, thus effectively ending the filibuster.
But other Republicans warn that doing so will inevitably enable Democrats whenever they regain a Senate majority to pass proposals like statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, which would add four senators who would likely be Democrats.
Traditional advocates of the filibuster argue that it prevents the Senate from acting too hastily and thus forces deeper consideration of proposals before final decisions are made on them.
In other words, filibuster is an important tool in preserving the Constitution’s structure for the legislative branch to require senators and representatives to seek a deliberative consensus on the best way forward, thus encouraging moderation and compromise rather than all-or-nothing extremes.