Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
All the talk about the Senate filibuster rule misses the real point — it was the progressive Democrats in the House who stalled the $1 trillion infrastructure bill for 57 days after it passed by the Senate on a bipartisan vote.
These progressives, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as their leader, vowed to block the vote until the social-climate change bill moved first, and did so twice. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with 221 members versus 213 Republicans, had no choice. She twisted arms to get 13 Republicans from mostly blue states to vote with her caucus. But she had to agree to a Congressional Budget Office score to pass the bigger Build Back Better bill — and compromise offered by Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Pelosi kept the floor vote open for seven hours after the roll call, a House record. The bill passed 228-206 thanks to the assistance of the 13 Republicans. Now, the CBO numbers have to match the White House estimates.
That’s not a Senate filibuster rule problem — it’s a policy and process problem. The filibuster is just a handy excuse.
