During a tour of U.S. border facilities in Arizona with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Tuesday, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) defended the filibuster, which Democrats bemoan is threatening to hobble President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Sixty votes are required to begin and end debate on most pieces of legislation in the Senate, which is currently split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. In the event of any ties, Vice President Kamala Harris casts the deciding vote.

Last week, Democrats failed to muster the requisite 60 votes to begin debate on a bill that would have authorized the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot, during which rioters haphazardly, albeit violently attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. There were 54 votes in favor and 35 against, and the measure was essentially killed.

Aside from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Sinema is perhaps the most ardent Democratic booster of the filibuster. Despite calls from liberals to abolish or reform the filibuster, she remains entrenched in her position.

“As folks in Arizona know, I’ve long been a supporter of the filibuster because it is a tool that protects the democracy of our nation,” said Sinema, “Rather than allowing our country to ricochet wildly every two to four years back and forth between policies.”

She went on to espouse the virtues of bipartisanship, and said that it’s incumbent upon senators to change their behavior instead of changing the filibuster.

“So I’m going to continue to go to work every day, aggressively seeking bipartisanship in a cheerful and happy warrior way as I always do, and showing that when we work together we can get things done.”

A reporter then noted the filibuster’s association with the Jim Crow era, when Southern politicians used it repeatedly to block Civil Rights legislation. Sinema responded by given a false account of the filibuster’s origins.

“Well,” she said, “The filibuster was not created as a tool to accomplish one thing or another. It was created as a tool to bring together members of different parties to find compromise and coalition.”

That story doesn’t check out. Rather than a deliberate measure to foster “compromise,” the filibuster was created  —apparently unwittingly in 1806 when the Senate eliminated the “previous question motion,” which allowed a simple majority of senators to end debate. The rule change allowed for a senator or group of senators to talk indefinitely on a bill so as to delay or prevent its passage. However, this loophole went largely unnoticed and unexploited for decades until it became a preferred tool for pro-slavery senators in the mid 1800s, and later segregationists in the 20th century.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in May, “One hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration.”

Watch above via More Perfect Union.

The post Kyrsten Sinema Defends Filibuster in Appearance with GOP Senator: It ‘Protects the Democracy of Our Nation’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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