Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is so determined to keep power in the upper chamber that he’s now threatening to sabotage the Senate entirely if Democrats ever kill the filibuster.
The filibuster requires that 60 senators approve of most bills, which means key civil rights, voting, climate change, and other legislation would be impossible to pass. McConnell had demanded that Democrats guarantee that the filibuster would remain intact, but he backed down on that demand after two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) turned traitor in opposition to ending it.
On Tuesday, McConnell doubled down on protecting the filibuster, this time by threatening to sabotage the Senate by preventing a quorum. A quorum is a required number of senators that must be present in the chamber for proceedings to be valid.
He even bragged about making the threat on Twitter and repeated his attack on Democrats.
The Senate requires collaboration and deliberation. It’s a feature, not a bug, that slim majorities can’t ram through half-baked ideas.
My remarks on the legislative filibuster and why I stuck up for the minority’s rights even when Republicans had power: https://t.co/vtKFPDeVJe
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) January 26, 2021
Today, I made clear that if Democrats ever attack the key Senate rules, it would drain the consent and comity out of the institution. A scorched-earth Senate would hardly be able to function. It wouldn’t be a progressive’s dream. It would be a nightmare.
I guarantee it.
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) January 26, 2021
Of course, McConnell had no problem killing the filibuster to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in eight days after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last year just before the election.
That makes him quite the hypocrite.
Needless to say, Democrats and other Twitter users slammed Mitch and his duplicity.
You mean like the way you refused to give President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee a hearing because “it was too close to the 2016 election” and then rammed through Trump’s appointment a month before the 2020 election? Now THAT drained consent and comity out of the institution!🙄
— David Gorski, MD, PhD (@gorskon) January 26, 2021
Merrick Garland, Noel Gorsuch, alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett.
The Earth has already been scorched, asshole, by you.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) January 26, 2021
You blocked 438 bills, how was the Senate functioning with you at the helm?
— Just Vent (@JustVent6) January 26, 2021
By the way, Senate Democrats represent 41.5 million more Americans than Mitch and his caucus.
Blocking needed relief for Americans has nothing to do with “consent and comity” and everything to do with destroying democracy.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 27, 2021
McConnell’s threat to deny Democrats a quorum is really an empty one since the Senate sergeant-at-arms can be sent to arrest members who fail to show up and drag them back to the chamber. But it’s most certainly telling of just how desperate McConnell is to hold onto power, which he can only do with the filibuster. Democrats have nothing to lose and everything to gain by killing the filibuster. A simple majority vote would get things done and then the American people can decide in 2022 if they agree with what Democrats did. Not killing the filibuster would all but guarantee that nothing gets done, and Democrats will be blamed since they have the majority.
Featured Image: Wikimedia Commons
