Abolish Filibuster or Let Democracy Die

Floor Speech

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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, as we come off the historic Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday, it is incumbent upon all of us not just to reflect on his legacy but to really honor it.

Honoring his legacy means really using our political strength, much of which was given to us by him and his struggle, to deliver the very voting rights protections he and countless other civil rights leaders, including our very own John Lewis, bled to secure.

We simply cannot accept empty promises anymore, Madam Speaker, in pursuit of his dream for a more equal and just America, not from Senators who have the power to live fully in those ideals today and not from Members of this very Chamber.

How can anyone, Madam Speaker, especially any Member of the Senate, celebrate this day of service, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, without standing for democracy and the rights of others?

How can they, in good faith, deliver empty words or celebrate his legacy in the shadow of this current attack on access to the ballot box when they themselves have the power to stop it?

But let me step back just a minute and put this in perspective, Madam Speaker. Just last year, Republicans introduced 440 voter suppression bills in 49 States. Nineteen States have already passed voting restrictions in 2021, with even more coming this year.

These are acts of voter suppression occurring in nearly every State of the Union, targeting Black and Brown communities, working-class and poor communities, telling them that their votes and voices shouldn't be heard, violating the sacred concept of one person, one vote.

Make no mistake, Madam Speaker: The restrictive voting laws that have passed and continue to be passed and pushed have directly targeted Black and Brown poor and working-class communities, directly targeting communities of color to make it harder for them to access the ballot box and to participate in our democracy.

As we continue to honor Dr. King and his legacy today, the Senate has a choice: Abolish the filibuster or let democracy die.

Madam Speaker, the filibuster is an arcane piece of Senate procedure that came to be by accident. It is a direct legacy to segregation and continues to hold back progress on civil rights to this very day.

Its most famous use was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, where its opponents filibustered for nearly 60 days. But it wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last.

White southerners also invoked the filibuster to block a voting rights bill in 1891, with many of the same Senators filibustering again in the 1930s to block antilynching laws.

Imagine that. The filibuster was used to block antilynching laws.

We have a choice, Madam Speaker, between having a democracy or allowing racist systems to continue. It is simple. The filibuster is a monument to white supremacy, and we have to tear it down.

I refuse to hear any cheap excuse about why protecting the very founding principle of this Nation isn't possible because of it, not when it has been changed 161 times.

The filibuster, in the last five decades, has been changed 161 times to pass trade deals, tax cuts for the rich, Supreme Court Justices, and just recently for the debt ceiling.

But that is not what we remember the filibuster for. We remember the filibuster for its racist roots, deeply embedded in Jim Crow, used to stop antilynching legislation.

Madam Speaker, history will not look fondly on those who stand in the way of progress.

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