Letters to the Editor: Ending the filibuster would give us Medicare for All? Oh, the horror

To the editor: One of your letter writers said that if the Democrats get rid of the filibuster, Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would pass legislation such as affordable healthcare for all, a path to citizenship for immigrants, congressional representation for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and higher taxes on the wealthy.

And the problem is?

Kendall Wolf, Encino

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To the editor: Unlike the Republicans, the Senate Democratic caucus actually includes a wide range of viewpoints, from those of Bernie Sanders of Vermont to Joe Manchin of West Virginia. For this reason, radical legislation is not likely to pass.

Manchin has, in effect, a one-man veto pen. And lest one forgets, President Biden has not signed on to the more far-left proposals.

Had the Republicans shown any willingness to work with the Democrats, I’d have some reason to concede that we should keep the filibuster. Yet Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) troops have shown no such willingness, and therefore we might expect standard Republican obstruction to whatever the majority puts forward.

Steven Chinn, New York