No matter which issues we want to make progress on -- coronavirus relief, healthcare, racial justice, voting rights, or the climate -- we must first make sure that the Senate can actually act in the interest of the American people.

Right now, Mitch McConnell and his caucus -- who represent a disproportionately white minority of the country’s population -- can shut down almost any bill they want by abusing the Senate filibuster.

The filibuster is a parliamentary maneuver that wasn’t routinely used until recently. It requires 60 senators to vote to advance most bills -- which means even if a bill would win a fair up-or-down Senate vote, a handful of senators can still abuse the process to kill it.

That’s outrageous -- the voters took away McConnell's gavel. He shouldn’t be able to exercise absolute veto power over our entire legislative process. That is not democracy.

That’s why we’re calling on the new Senate to make abolishing the filibuster a priority. This is hardly a radical idea -- the filibuster has changed many times over... major political figures from various ideological backgrounds support eliminating it... and it doesn’t even appear in the Constitution.

It’d only take a simple majority vote in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster. But unfortunately, some Democratic senators in the new Congress have hesitated to back the idea.

We must let them know that the American people are counting on them to do what’s right for our democracy. If you agree that it’s time to abolish the undemocratic filibuster, add your name today.