The Business of Democracy

The real danger America’s CEOs face

For the fourth time this year, Republicans in the Senate have filibustered a voting rights bill that has passed the House. This latest bill to fall victim to Republican obstruction was a supposed “compromise” negotiated by Joe Manchin that was supposed to garner Republican votes. Perhaps in Manchin’s world, it might look like a success because he got one Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, to vote for the bill. But in the alternate reality of the current US Senate, Manchin needed another nine Republicans to overcome a filibuster and even allow a simple debate on the bill.

In light of this repeated obstruction, Democrats seem to be inching toward some kind of carve-out to the filibuster for voting rights similar to what exists for budgetary matters and judicial confirmations. Just the other day, Senator Carper declared, “No barrier — not even the filibuster — should stand in the way of our sacred obligation to protect our democracy.” Carper now joins Senator King in abandoning their prior skepticism about filibuster reform and instead changing the process for voting rights and democracy reform. Earlier, even President Biden finally admitted that the filibuster needed to be “fundamentally altered” for “certain issues,” clearly alluding to both the debt ceiling and voting rights. But Biden made clear any discussion…