8/2/2021- 7:18 p.m.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was among more than 200 people arrested in Washington, D.C., by Capitol Police on Monday while protesting in favor of Democratic legislation.
Last week, Jackson was one of 39 people arrested for refusing to leave Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s office in Phoenix, where they were protesting the senator’s support of the filibuster.
Protesters marched to Sinema’s office chanting to “end” the filibuster — the historic procedural measure that is used to kill bills by preventing a vote, which the Democrats used over 300 times in 2020 alone.
Congressional Democrats and progressive groups have taken aim at the filibuster as they push for the Democrats’ controversial voting legislation.
Manchin said during a Sunday interview that he could not imagine a filibuster “carve-out” for the sweeping election overhaul.
The filibuster, a longstanding Senate tradition requiring 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to advance a bill, effectively allows the minority party to block certain legislation. The Senate is currently evenly split 50/50 between the two parties, with the Democrats holding a razor-thin majority due to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris through her constitutional role as president of the Senate.
But the Democrats are nowhere close to obtaining the 60 votes needed to quash a filibuster. They don’t even have the simple majority needed to eliminate the legislative filibuster rule.
