Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has rebuffed Republican leader Mitch McConnell's obstructionist demand that the Democrats commit to keeping the filibuster on legislation. Schumer has precedent on his side; the organizing resolution from the last time the Senate was divided 50-50 didn't delve into floor procedure on the filibuster. Schumer also has his Democratic conference behind him.
That support ranges from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who said, "McConnell was fine with getting rid of the filibuster to a United States Supreme Court nominee for a lifetime appointment but he’s not ok getting rid of the filibuster for unemployment relief for families that are out of work because of COVID-19," to Sen. Jon Tester from Montana, who said, "Chuck Schumer is the majority leader and he should be treated like majority leader. We can get shit done around here and we ought to be focused on getting stuff done. […] If we don’t, the inmates are going to be running this ship." Sen. Dick Durbin, Schumer's deputy, adds: "Unfortunately we’re not going to give him what he wishes. If you did that then there would be just unbridled use of it." That's all extremely true, and having Democrats say it out loud and reporters repeating it is enough to make you think that maybe we really are in a new year.
It seems like "getting shit done" is the takeaway for Democrats. Giving in to McConnell and taking away the potentially necessary tool to get that shit done "would be exactly the wrong way to begin,” said Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal. "We need to have the kind of position of strength that will enable us to get stuff done." But that still leaves the Senate at an impasse in moving forward with organizing. For example, the three brand new Democratic senators sworn in Wednesday can't be assigned to committees until there's an organizing resolution in place. Not having it is slowing down committee hearings conducting the process of approving Biden's Cabinet.
McConnell doesn't want Biden to succeed. He doesn't want Democrats to get shit done because he's looking ahead—as always—to the next election and regaining his majority. To that end, he's preventing Biden from forming his government. He's using the same tool white supremacist senators used generations ago to first fight abolition and then civil rights legislation. How little things change.
If it comes down to it, Democrats can advance the cause of getting rid of the filibuster right now, on this organizing resolution McConnell has been delaying. If it comes to it, they can use what's been dubbed the Reid Precedent, when then Majority Leader Harry Reid used a simple majority to overturn a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian to end the filibuster on President Barack Obama's lower court nominees. They could, if McConnell forces them to, organize with a simple majority vote, with Vice President Harris' help.