Filibluster

Joe and Joe, President Biden and Senator Manchin, have both expressed opposition to getting rid of the Senate filibuster, much to the chagrin of House progressives.  Both President Biden and Senator Manchin believe that the filibuster is the only tool the minority has in the Senate to demand changes to a bill they want more input on or to block a law they do not like.  The whole purpose of the Senate, after all, is to modify or "cool down" the passions of legislation passed by the House, as well as give small states an equal say in the Senate that they don't have in the House.  President Biden and Senator Manchin also concerned with the possibility of a future Republican Senate majority - possibly as soon as the next Congress - setting the agenda and passing everything they damn well please withut a Democratic filibuster to stop them.

Both President Biden and Senator Manchin do agree that the filibuster should be reformed, however, and political scientist Norman Ornstein has come up with a few ideas for that, such as having more senators present when one senator is babbling on and on and forcing them to listen to the babbling, requiring a supermajority of those present instead of all 100 senators, and a smaller required majority to begin with.  (His ideas are in greater detail here.)  Filibuster reform might come sooner than later if Republicans insist on filibustering everything President Biden tries to get passed.

That's not enough for some senators, who want the filibuster ended entirely.  And members of the Squad certainly would love to see the filibuster - not to mention the current Senate parliamentarian - done away with.  Forget for a moment that the Squad are a bunch of know-it-all House members who have nothing to do with the Senate.  They also happen to be lawmakers who never served under a Republican majority.  I don't suggest that they serve in a Republican Senate to understand the value of keeping the filibuster in some form in place.  I merely note that they haven't.