Support Provided By For a bipartisan American West to thrive, the Senate filibuster must die. So say Harry Reid, the former U.S. Senate majority leader from Nevada, and three other western senators, Martin Heinrich from New Mexico, Jeff Merkley from Oregon, and Alex Padilla from California, all Democrats. They are joined by another 10 western Democrats who say the filibuster may need to be reformed or abolished — to allow legislation to pass with a simple majority vote rather than the supermajority required to overcome a filibuster — if the partisan logjam holding up legislation in the Senate does not break soon.