Don't blame the filibuster for blocking Democrats' agenda

You hear the old line from many progressive Democrats: ditch the Senate filibuster and we can pass our legislative agenda. Democrats are more than happy to upbraid Republicans for blocking bills important to the left. But Republicans aren't the Democrats' problem. Democrats are the problem.

Democrats are struggling to advance key components of the progressive agenda through the Senate. Gun legislation. Voting rights. D.C. statehood. Environmental policy. Even infrastructure. House Democrats approved several of those measures already. But perhaps some introspection is in order. Democrats can’t pass these House-approved bills because all 50 Senate Democrats aren’t aligned. Sure. Democrats have nominal control of the Senate, thanks to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. But you have to at least be able to count to 50 if you're to have a snowball's chance of getting things to work in your favor in such a narrowly-divided Senate. And Democrats can’t necessarily do that on a host of subjects ... Yet. It still takes 60 votes to overcome a legislative filibuster in the Senate. That means if Democrats are all in lockstep, they still must siphon off ten of their GOP colleagues to advance legislation. But Democrats will have to wrestle with that conundrum later. Right now, they lack the votes to advance any of these big policy items important to core Democrats on their own. So, the filibuster is a moot point.