WASHINGTON — Texas Democrats remain holed up in Washington and are calling on Congress to pass voting legislation. They don’t have a leg to stand on back home in the Texas Legislature and when they return following the scheduled Aug. 7 conclusion of the current special session, Gov. Greg Abbott will just call another special session.

So, what’s preventing congressional Democrats from simply passing voting legislation and thwarting efforts by the Texas GOP to pass sweeping voting restrictions in the state?

Democrats have little chance of passing such legislation through a narrowly divided Congress, and it largely comes down to the filibuster.

In June, the For the People Act, a sweeping attempt by Democrats to change U.S. election and voting law, was stopped by what was referred to by the Associated Press as a “filibuster wall of Republican opposition.”

Recently, you might have heard about some Democrats wanting to do away with the filibuster entirely in order to more easily advance President Joe Biden’s agenda. So what is a filibuster?

The Associated Press recently provided an explainer:

The filibuster is among the Senate’s “most distinctive procedural features,” according to the Congressional Research Service.

The Senate has a longstanding practice of allowing any one senator to object to the proceedings, what’s generally referred to as a filibuster that can halt action or votes.

Senators have famously stood at their desks for hours making their case, as the character played by Jimmy Stewart did in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” or as South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond did to stall the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

Today, senators can merely signal their intent to object, even privately, and that’s enough for Senate leaders to take action. Leaders sometimes just drop the issue from floor consideration. At other times, they push ahead, taking cumbersome steps to cut off the filibuster and move forward with the proceedings.

Getting rid of the filibuster would not be that easy. It takes 51 votes to change the Senate rules, a tall order at most times but especially in the now evenly split 50-50 Senate. Democrats hold a slim majority because Vice President Kamala Harris can be a tie-breaking vote, the Associated Press reports.

President Biden has signaled he’d like to return to “old days” of the talking filibuster, forcing senators to stand at their desks and articulate their opposition to the proceedings, as was the practice when he first joined the Senate decades ago.

The idea has support from Democrats who see it as a possible alternative to fully ending the filibuster practice. But it still poses risks, and Democratic leaders have been reluctant to move toward that option.

Several Republican senators, particularly those considering running for president in 2024, might see political advantage to seizing the floor to rail endlessly against White House priorities. The filibusters could also stall action on other Democratic priorities, including Biden’s nominees.

McConnell has warned of a “scorched earth” reaction if Democrats eliminate the filibuster.

At the same time, many Democrats are ready to take that chance to end the filibuster, realizing their slim majority is fragile, and Republicans might do away with it anyway to advance their priorities the next time they control the Senate and the White House.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.