Amid heated debate about doing away with the Senate’s filibuster rule, a proposal so contentious it has been dubbed the “nuclear option,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Democrats should consider abolishing the filibuster if Republicans use it to thwart the Democrats’ priority legislation.
The filibuster rule was originally adopted to give the minority party a stronger voice in the Senate and prevent partisan control of the upper chamber by the majority. The rule essentially requires a super-majority threshold, now at 60 votes, to cut off debate in the Senate and bring legislative bills or other measures to a vote.
