Either Biden Kills the Filibuster, or It Will Kill Him

Jonathan Chait: “Republicans assert as a matter of course that, should Democrats win full control of government, they will eliminate the legislative filibuster and grant statehood to D.C. and Puerto Rico. Joe Biden has been much more circumspect, professing his hope that Senate Republicans will have a change of heart and negotiate in good faith to pass important elements of his program.”

“Of course, both sides have an incentive to shade the truth. Republicans want to motivate their supporters by emphasizing the stakes of losing the Senate and the White House. Biden wishes both to disarm nervous Republican crossover voters, and to maintain his idealistic pitch that he can heal American divisions by bringing the parties together.”

“But I suspect it is not just spin that is causing the two parties to provide such radically opposed assessments of Biden’s intentions. Republicans believe Democrats will maximize their power because that is what they would do… But Democrats, or at least some of them, harbor a genuine nostalgia for the bygone days of bipartisanship.”