Progress Arizona Calls on Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to Support Ending the Filibuster
For Immediate Release
January 22, 2021
Contact: Emily Kirkland, emily@progressarizona.org, 646 623 5271
PHOENIX – Now that President Joe Biden has assumed office and Democrats have a narrow majority in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are working on a power-sharing agreement that must be in place before they can move forward with legislation or executive branch confirmations.
As part of that agreement, Mitch McConnell is demanding that Democrats keep the filibuster. Because the filibuster requires a 60 vote supermajority to pass legislation, keeping the filibuster in place means that Republicans will be able to hold up COVID-19 relief and other legislative priorities despite Democrats having won the US House, the US Senate and the Presidency.
In response, Progress Arizona has released the following statement:
“We’re calling on Senator Sinema and Senator Kelly to support ending the filibuster so that working families can get the assistance they desperately need. Allowing Republicans to hold relief hostage is not what Arizonans voted for when they elected two Democratic senators.
We’ve entered the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and Americans are struggling now more than ever — hundreds of thousands have died, so many are going hungry, and millions are unemployed. With President Joe Biden in office and Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress, Americans have the chance to see real assistance. For that to happen, the Senate must end the filibuster and prevent Republicans from holding up very popular and much needed policies, like $2,000 checks and a $15 minimum wage. American families voted for Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress because they need help right now. Democrats finally have a 51 vote majority in the Senate — now they must use it to pass legislation like peoples’ lives depend on it, because they do.
In Arizona, the state of the crisis is especially dire. Arizona has been the COVID-19 hotspot multiple times and death rates are soaring. 200,000 Arizonans are unemployed, and one in three has gone hungry over the last year. Arizonans are hurting, and they can’t afford to wait around while politicians play games in Washington.”