Repubs are trying to force the Dems to kill the filibuster...
There was a time in ancient US history when the filibuster was pretty rare, at least in part because when Senators wanted to filibuster they actually had to stand up and talk for the duration of the act. But there is another, somewhat hidden reason. There is always the threat of payback, that the next time the majority loses and is in the minority they will block what the new majority wants. In that way, there was generally motivation for compromise of some sort.
That boiled to a head in the mid-19th Century over the issue of slavery and its corollary issues. After the expansion following the Mexican-American war of the 1840's, the question of whether all of the new area would join the union as free or slave came to a head. Most of the area was south of the somewhat mythical Mason-Dixon line that had been somewhat of a divider between slave and free states, but abolitionists didn't care. They didn't want any more slave states admitted, while Southerners, of course, wanted more slave states to solidify a majority pro-slave bloc in perpetuity. The result, of course, was the Civil War. But even in those times, the filibuster was seldom used.
In modern times the rules of the Senate have changed, allowing the minority to "filibuster" without any real penalty. They just basically get to block things. Where this has mainly been manifested, of course, is in appointment of judges. What used to be a fairly mundane operation in the Senate grew, in the 90's and forward, into an increasingly partisan fight. Republicans, complaining about "liberal activist judges" started blocking any Dem appointments. Ultimately, Majority Leader Harry Reid eliminated the filibuster on lower level judge appointments just to get the court positions filled.
Following that precedent, Majority Leader McConnell, a Republican, killed the filibuster for Supreme Court Justices, resulting in three appointments in the Trump presidency, packing the court with a 6-3 conservative majority that will likely survive for 20-30 years.
Now, Republicans are wielding the filibuster hammer again, blocking the solving of the debt ceiling problem and President Biden's agenda. It's gone from foot dragging to heel setting to now throwing anchors out of the ship of state to prevent any movement in a progressive direction, which is pretty fully supported by a majority of American voters.
What they want is for the Democrats to kill the filibuster so that when the Republicans regain the majority they can more easily disassemble the social safety network the Democrats are trying to build.
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