Why the U.S. Senate Is Broken

Adam Jentleson argues that toxic partisanship rose when the filibuster became a cudgel

- By Amanda Kolson Hurley and David Rocks

“This is not a particularly uplifting history,” Adam Jentleson warns at the beginning of Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate, his new book about partisan dysfunction in the Senate and how to fix it. The violent Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol illustrates his point. Senate Democrats began the week exultant that twin victories in Georgia would give them control of the chamber under President Joe Biden. They ended it in an outraged clamor to expel two Republicans, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, and likely headed for a second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

Jentleson wasn’t surprised. “What we’re seeing today is really the culmination of centuries-long historical trends,” he said the day after the attack, as images of the pro-Trump mob blanketed cable television. For seven years, Jentleson, 39, had an up-close view of growing Senate dysfunction as a top aide to former Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. He left with a healthy contempt for how both parties operate and a clear diagnosis of the institution’s primary ailment. The success of Biden’s presidency, he believes, will hinge on whether Democrats recognize it and commit to reform.