Samantha Bee Demands an End to the Senate Filibuster: 'Kill It, Burn It, Strangle It'

Late night host Samantha Bee gave viewers a civics lesson last night in a segment about ending the Senate filibuster, which was used by Republicans last week to kill a bipartisan bill for a January 6 commission. The Full Frontal host explained that a progressive agenda will never survive if the filibuster exists, and as such, it needs to be killed. As in, "Kill it, burn it, strangle it, draw a bath and drop a plugged-in toaster in it."

After providing a quick run-through of the filibuster (okay, she allowed Vox to do it), Bee explained that the U.S. House got rid of the filibuster in the 1890s, so there's clearly a precedent for doing so. "Why hasn't the Senate followed suit?" she said. "Probably because it lets them live the American dream: getting paid a lot of money to do absolutely nothing."

"If we want to pass any non-budgetary legislation, we need to have a super-majority in the Senate. Unfortunately, we just have a measly simple majority, so we're screwed. But there is something we can do with our simple majority," continued Bee. "We can kill the filibuster! Smother it in its sleep, poison it, walk it over enough manholes that one of them falls in. I don't care!"

Bee added that the filibuster isn't even in the Constitution, and furthermore, for centuries, it's "been used to deny rights to Black people," as former President Obama said during Rep. John Lewis' funeral. "Until we lose the filibuster, the entire progressive agenda is at risk. Democrats, you won! Stop letting the losers call the shots!" she said. "Stop acting like there will ever be any sort of real, bipartisan compromise from Republicans."

"It is time to kill the motherf***ing filibuster," she concluded. "Make it ride shotgun with Caitlyn Jenner. Crush it under a piano. Push it onto the grill at Benihana. I don't care, just do it already!"

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee airs Wednesdays at 10:30 PM ET on TBS.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.