BROADCASTS.com

The fate of the Senate filibuster will decide the future of the Biden presidency. Today, we dive deep into the filibuster\\u2019s origins and myths \\u2014 and we talk to people who say that killing this arcane procedural roadblock is the only way to save the Senate.

Read more:

President Biden and Senate Democrats are faced with the question of whether to reform the rules of the filibuster \\u2014 or even to terminate it altogether. In the view of many Democrats, it\\u2019s the only thing holding Biden back from executing ambitious plans on climate change, voting rights, immigration and the minimum wage.

\\u201cThe disconnect between having a majority \\u2014 which the Democrats now do \\u2014 and needing 60 votes, which the Democrats can\'t get,\\u201d says national politics correspondent Philip Bump, \\u201cthat disconnect really is shaping up to be one of the defining power struggles of the Senate.\\u201d

Today, Post Reports looks at the history of the filibuster \\u2014 and why the myths about its origin obscure a more dismal story about its use to preserve slavery and prevent civil rights for Black Americans. 

\\u201cThey basically created a de facto supermajority standard for the passage of civil rights bills \\u2014 and only civil rights bills,\\u201d says Adam Jentleson, author of a new book called \\u201cKill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy.\\u201d His research explores the question of whether the Founding Fathers ever intended for a powerful tool like the filibuster. \\u201cThe evidentiary record is very clear on this,\\u201d he says. \\u201cThey were anti-obstruction.\\u201d

The repeated failure of the Senate to defeat filibusters that blocked civil rights was an \\u201cinstitution-wide failure,\\u201d according to U.S. Senate historian Daniel Holt, who explains the repeated attempts to bring the filibuster under control. \\u201cThere was a reluctance to use the mechanisms at hand to force adoption of these bills \\u2014 much to the detriment of the African Americans in the country.\\u201d

Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, recently penned an opinion piece for USA Today about the need to end the filibuster. The legacy of the obstruction of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, he argues, is a dark stain on the Senate and its traditions. \\u201cPeople were literally being lynched, beaten and killed in order for that legislation to happen,\\u201d he says. \\u201cBlood was spilled in the streets in order to get to 60-plus votes.\\u201d

If you value the journalism you hear in this podcast, please subscribe to The Washington Post. We have a deal for our listeners \\u2014 one year of unlimited access to everything the Post publishes for just $29. To sign up, go to postreports.com/offer.