Senate Republicans are increasingly at each other’s throats over whether to change the filibuster rule to ram through bill that would mandate new voting restrictions nationwide and require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
A loud contingent of the party is increasingly convinced that Republicans should simply axe the practice, which allows any senator to object indefinitely to debate on a bill and effectively requires a 60-vote supermajority for any legislation that doesn’t fit into a few narrow carved-out exceptions. Analysts have long suggested that the filibuster makes policymaking in general much more difficult, and disproportionately constrains Democrats’ agenda more than Republicans’.
One of the vocal leaders of this push is Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), according to HuffPost’s Igor Bobic, who said, “Next time [Democrats] get power, they’re going to end it. So from my standpoint, we’d be schmucks to sit here and wait and not pass things to secure elections.”
Democrats debated scrapping the filibuster the last time they had complete control of Congress, but did not have the votes to do so, with the most vocal opposition coming from then-Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Both have since left Congress.
According to Bobic, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), another outgoing senator who has become more outspoken against certain Trump administration policies, is adamant that the situation has not changed with Republicans in charge — and despite Johnson’s frustration, Republicans do not have the votes to change the filibuster either.
Tillis told Bobic that many senators who would vote to preserve it are currently sitting on the sidelines.
“I don’t begrudge them for being silent when they know that we’ve got safe numbers to preserve it.”
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