Preserving the Senate Filibuster

Sen. McConnell has backed off from a key demand that had held up a power-sharing agreement after he and Sen. Schumer agreed not to vote to do away with the rule he wanted to preserve, the filibuster. Sen. McConnell had refused to agree to any deal with Sen. Schumer to share power in the 50-50 Senate without a pledge that Democrats would not jettison the filibuster, which allows the minority to block legislation by requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation.  Sen. Schumer rebuffed the idea of a guarantee, but Sen. McConnell said statements from Sens. Manchin (D-WV) and Sinema (D-AZ) were enough.

The final resolution is expected to be modeled off of the power-sharing agreement of 2001, the last time that the Senate was evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.  Enacting major parts of the Democratic agenda will be difficult with the 60-vote requirement to pass most legislation.