As shutdown drags on, filibuster shows how “both parties have been hypocritical”

For years, California’s late Sen. Dianne Feinstein fought off calls by her fellow Democrats to get rid of the filibuster, a Senate rule used to great effect by Republicans thwarting Democrats’ key legislation.

A traditionalist who served in Congress in the days when the two parties often worked toward compromises, Feinstein knew that when Democrats were in the Senate minority, they would need that option, too.

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Two years after Feinstein’s death, that time has come. And now, Senate Democrats who had pushed vociferously for the filibuster’s elimination just four years ago are using it to try to force a Republican compromise on President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that would cause health insurance costs for many Americans to skyrocket.

And, surprise, surprise, sev