Each year, important and popular legislation dies on the Senate floor, because the filibuster allows a minority of senators—representing a disproportionately white segment of the country’s population—can stop any legislative action in its tracks.

The 60-vote filibuster rule is undemocratic, and it needs to go.

The filibuster as it is used today is not a talk-til-you-drop marathon session on the Senate floor. Instead, it is a mechanism that allows a handful of senators to shut down a bill behind closed doors.

That’s right: the filibuster does not inspire bipartisan action. It is a recipe for gridlock and gives the Senate minority total veto power over the entire legislative process, even though they lost the election.

That is why Common Cause is dedicated to fixing the broken 60-vote filibuster.

Where did the filibuster come from?

The filibuster has been abused repeatedly to diminish the political power of Black and brown voters and the lawmakers who represent them. In fact, the filibuster’s most notorious historical use was by Strom Thurmond in an attempt to block the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He and others tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well.

During President Obama’s term, a minority of senators used it to shut down the DREAM Act, transparency in campaign spending (the DISCLOSE Act), gun violence prevention legislation, and workers’ rights.

All of these bills would have passed an up-or-down vote, but instead, they died on the Senate floor. Why? Because the filibuster allows the Senate minority to overrule the majority and block whatever bills it chooses. A handful of senators—who themselves represent a smaller portion of the country’s population—have absolute veto power over our entire legislative process.

That is not democracy.

What is Common Cause doing?

Common Cause has a long history of efforts to fix the filibuster. In 2012, we even sued the U.S. Senate in Cause commune contre Biden challenging the constitutionality of the rule.

Fixing the filibuster is not a radical idea. The filibuster is not in the Constitution, which does explicitly outline when a supermajority vote is necessary to pass legislation.

Moreover, the Senate’s rules around debate and the filibuster have been amended many times before—including by Sen. Mitch McConnell, who made the change to ram through two Supreme Court nominees with a simple majority.

Many major political figures from across the aisle have even expressed support for the filibuster’s elimination. This includes former President Barack Obama, who called it a “Jim Crow relic” at the funeral of civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis.

It only takes a simple Senate majority to change the chamber’s rules again and end the filibuster. Help us bring about this urgently needed reform by taking action today.