Major bills blocked by filibuster in 2021-2023?
Executive summary
From 2021 through 2023, the Senate filibuster was the decisive procedural roadblock that prevented several high-profile Democratic bills from reaching a final vote — most prominently sweeping voting-rights legislation such as the For the People Act/Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and a slate of pro-worker measures including the Paycheck Fairness Act — with opponents denying the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture and advance debate [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. The voting-rights packages that never got a floor vote
Democrats’ centerpiece democracy reforms — widely reported as the For the People Act (H.R.1) and a companion Justice Department–strengthening measure called the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — were stymied when Senate Republicans, joined by filibuster-retaining or opposed Democrats, denied the cloture threshold required to begin debate, culminating in a 50–50 procedural defeat for the motion to proceed in June 2021 and renewed collapses in January 2022 when Democrats failed to change Senate rules to clear the filibuster barrier [2] [3] [4].
2. Pro-labor bills and other Democratic priorities that languished
Beyond voting bills, a package of pro-worker measures that had passed the House or enjoyed White House support ran aground amid filibuster threats and failed cloture efforts, including iterations of the Paycheck Fairness Act and other workplace-reform bills that Roosevelt Institute researchers identify as among the measures the filibuster “killed” in the 117th Congress — sometimes through formal cloture defeats and sometimes via the sustained threat of a filibuster that prevented serious Senate floor action [1].
3. How the filibuster worked in practice, 2021–2023
By 2021–2022 the filibuster had evolved from the dramatic talking marathon to a system of threatened or actual cloture votes that required 60 senators to cut off debate; the period saw an extraordinary spike in cloture filings — a record 336 cloture motions in 2021–22 — underscoring how frequently the minority used procedural tools to block or delay legislation [5]. Senate precedents and decades of rule changes meant nominations could be cleared with a simple majority, but most major bills still faced the supermajority cloture barrier Filibusterinthe_United_States_Senate" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[6] [7].
4. Political dynamics, dissidents, and competing narratives
Defenders of the filibuster — including Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema at the time — argued that preserving the rule prevented “repeated radical reversals” and protected minority rights in the Senate, a position that directly influenced defeats on voting legislation when those Democrats refused to back rule changes to overcome Republican opposition [6] [3]. Republican leaders likewise framed filibusters as a check on federal overreach and warned against lowering the threshold; critics counter that the filibuster has historically been used to block civil-rights measures and now serves to freeze reform agendas favored by majorities [8] [3].
5. What counts as “blocked” and limits of the record
Available reporting distinguishes between bills that failed explicit cloture votes and bills that were effectively stalled by the credible threat of a filibuster; the Roosevelt Institute notes several measures lacked formal failed cloture votes yet never advanced because of filibuster pressure, and press coverage of the January 2022 defeats documents explicit 60‑vote shortfalls for cloture on voting bills [1] [4]. Public-source counts (cloture tallies maintained by the Senate and compiled by media researchers) give a partial picture but cannot always attribute every legislative shortfall solely to filibuster strategy, since agenda-setting choices and intra-party disagreements also shaped outcomes [9] [5].
6. The fallout: debates about reform and tactical alternatives
The repeated blocking of major Democratic priorities intensified calls for filibuster reform — from modified talking-filibuster proposals to demands for outright elimination — while others warned that removing the rule would deepen partisan swings; analysts pointed to reconciliation as a constrained workaround for some budgetary priorities but noted many measures at the center of the 2021–23 fight (notably expansive voting and civil‑rights reforms) could not be shoehorned into that process [7] [3]. The result was a political stalemate: major legislation listed by advocates and observers as “killed” by the filibuster remains the focal point of reform debate, even as defenders insist the rule preserves Senate consensus norms [1] [3] [6].