Web Extra: Casey on filibuster, Spears’ conservatorship

WILKES-BARRE — Sen. Bob Casey believes the filibuster needs to be changed.

He is concerned about the conditions pop star Britner Spears described in telling a court about her ongoing conservatorship, adding that it raises questions of a national scope.

And Casey, like many in this country, worries about how misinformation is damaging media and the nation’s political discourse.

Casey, D-Scranton, sat down with the Times Leader editorial board on Friday to discuss his “Five Freedoms for America’s Children” plan. That discussion is the focus of a separate story in our Sunday edition and online.

We had the opportunity to ask Casey some other questions during the meeting. This story, and the attached video, focuses on those topics.

The filibuster

While the Democrats currently have control over Congress and the White House, the Senate is split 50-50 — Vice President Kamala Harris can act as a tie-breaking vote as president of the chamber — there is division even within the Democratic party over whether to change the Senate’s filibuster rules.

Under those rules, most legislation requires a vote by 60 of the chamber’s 100 senators in order to advance. There are procedural end-runs that can be undertaken in some cases, and confirmation of executive and judicial nominees is within the majority party’s power. But passing bigger legislation pushed by the Biden Administration — notably changes that would make it easier to vote — is going to be extremely difficult given strong Republican opposition.

There are exceptions, of course — Casey pointed to bipartisan cooperation on President Joe Biden’s much-touted infrastructure plan — but he and other Democrats fear that kind of collaboration will be the exception rather than the rule, especially with issues such as voting rights on which the parties are deeply polarized.

Hence many in Casey’s party want to see the filibuster rules changed, if not eliminated. That would require a simple majority vote, but Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have signalled their opposition to such a move.

It is an arcane issue that may not loom large in the minds of everyday Americans, but could have a significant impact on the way business gets done in Congress.

“I’m in favor of changing it,” Casey said, acknowledging that this an issue on which is own views have evolved.

“Part of reason I resisted changing it for a lot of years is that I came to the Senate at a time when there was still that belief that rule can foster more bipartisanship and consensus,” said Casey, who was first elected in 2006.

“I just don’t think that’s going to happen in the way that it did before,” he added. “We’re a much more divided country, there are fewer people in the middle and the Senate reflects that.”

Casey also acknowledged that certain legislative priorities, “such as protecting voting rights,” should carry more weight than others, and that any changes would likely need to reflect that. “If you don’t deal with voting rights properly you’re going to injure the democracy.”

“Do we have to change it for every matter? No. There are a couple of alternatives,” he said. Exploring the possibility of changing it from 60 to 55 could be one.

“The only thing I’m certain of right now is that we don’t have the 50 votes to change the rule,” Casey said, adding that Democrats will have to find ways to build consensus to advance their agenda.

Britney Spears’ conservatorship

It may seem like an unlikely subject to raise with Pennsylvania’s senior senator, but the topic of Britney Spears and her conservatorship already had Casey in the headlines before he sat down with the editorial board on Friday.

Last week, a judge in California denied Spears’ request to have her father, James Spears, removed from a 13-year conservatorship under which he has control over her tens of millions of dollars in wealth as well as personal aspects of the singer’s life.

In emotional testimony, Spears, 39, called her father’s control “abusive,” claiming that he and others involved in the conservatorship not only have forced her to work nonstop, but have subjected her to psychological evaluations and refused to allow her to remove an intrauterine contraceptive device planted inside her to prevent Spears from having more children.

Following the judge’s ruling, Casey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sought more information on conservatorships from the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services.

While he acknowledged guardianship structures vary from state to state, “I think at a federal level it warrants some examination,” Casey told the Times Leader.

“Sometimes the only way you can start the debate is to make a national conversation. … Elizabeth Warren and I are among those who are trying to get some attention paid (to it).”

The revelations from Spears were, Casey said, “bizarre and disturbing.”

“It’s just a degree of control which I think most Americans are really troubled by.”

Misinformation in public discourse

One of the last issues discussed was the future of public discourse. Casey expressed support for the work of local news outlets, and also concern about the ways in which the profliferation of unverified opinions on the Internet is among factors that have undermined the ability of Americans to recognize and agree on basic facts.

“Local news, local newspapers have never been more important,” the senator added. “I just think we need to urge a lot more people to read them.”