A Senate operating in the “nuclear winter,” minority leader Mitch McConnell promises that if the filibuster is removed it is one in which lawmakers face relentless calls and other inconveniences that turn their comfortable lives into hell. live.
Why it’s important: By using apocalyptic language to warn of a “scorched earth” response, the Kentucky Republican is trying to scare Democrats out of the tool they are considering to break the Republican Party’s own political stubbornness.
Some tools available to McConnell:
- The demand for roll-call votes on procedural items forced Democratic senators and Vice President Kamala Harris – the 51st tie-breaking vote – to live on hold at the Capitol.
- Unnecessary quorum calls, which pause Senate business while the secretary issues a roll-call vote for all 100 senators to be present on the floor. You only need one member to request it.
- Turning Republicans to the ground during an hour-long debate over motions and bills, reminiscent of the technique illustrated in the 1939 film “Mr. Smith is going to Washington. “
- Asking Senate secretaries to read lengthy bills and amendments, similar to what Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) Did before a vote on President Biden’s coronavirus relief package, which went take more than 10 hours.
- Senate GOP aides say they could introduce 2,000-page replacement amendments to make the process particularly tedious.
Senate aides say McConnell would be very strategic about how he and other Republicans break the rules and insist he’s not bluffing.
- They point to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by columnist Kim Strassel, who said it was “perfect” in detailing the pain McConnell could cause if Democrats followed that path.
Strassel wrote:
- “The Senate is convened. Quorum convened. President calls for consent to stop reading yesterday’s newspaper. Republicans oppose. Roll-call vote. Officer requests consent to expedite” business of the “Republicans oppose it.”
- “Democrats are moving to address an issue. Point of order. Roll-call vote. Quorum call. Republicans oppose the motion. Roll-call vote. A speech. Quorum call. Etc., etc., until the postponement “.
The other side: Democrats insist they’ve heard it before and their supporters are fed up with McConnell’s rhetoric, especially after he changed the filibuster rule to let President Trump occupy three Supreme Court seats.
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), who spoke last week on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” dismissed McConnell’s talk as a “laughing threat.”
- “It simply came to our notice then. We will move forward because we know that the American population demands, needs, wants bold change. And we will. Mitch McConnell can do anything he can threaten and fly. It won’t stop us, ”Schumer said.
Democratic aides to the Senate he also characterized these tactics as acts of futility that would ultimately delay the inevitable.
- Regardless of the arduous mechanisms the Republican Party could implement, they say, if Democrats eliminate the filibuster, they will be able to enact much more of their agenda.
- They would also be very painful for Republicans, who would have to spend much more time in the Capitol than they do now, when they prefer to return to their districts.
- “In the end, that would be an obstruction in the name of the obstruction,” a senior Democratic aide said.
The backdrop: Democrats are a long way from reforming the filibuster, let alone eliminating it, and are unlikely to get the votes to do so in the current Senate since two moderates have pledged to keep it.
- But McConnell has said he is also willing to use those tools if Democrats find other ways, such as the budget reconciliation process, to leave the Republican Party out of key decisions.