From Mitch McConnell in today’s Senate Rules Committee hearing on changing the filibuster rule:
“I submit that the effort to change the rules is not about democracy. It is not about doing what a majority of the American people want. It is about power,” McConnell said.
“It is about a political party — or a faction of a political party — that is frustrated that it cannot do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, precisely the way it wants to do it.”
“This is not about reform,” McConnell said. “It’s about a political party that cannot do what it wants, whatever it wants, in the way it wants to do it.”
The Republicans have already overplayed their hand. If Robert Byrd is willing to change the rules, there is a very good chance that they will be changed.
Senate President Pro Tem Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), also a senior member of the Rules Committee, submitted a statement for Thursday’s hearing that fell somewhere in the middle between Schumer and McConnell, saying that reform could become reality. He also noted that the Senate’s filibuster rules have been changed multiple times, such as in 1975 when the threshhold for a successful cloture vote was lowered from 67 to 60 votes.
“I have long revered the rules and precedents of this body, but I have also championed reforms when I thought them necessary,” Byrd said. “We should remain open to changes in the Senate rules, but not to the detriment of the institution’s character or purpose.”
It’s probably too late for the Republicans to save the old filibuster, but if they want to try they better dramatically reduce its use before January when the next Congress convenes and the rules can be changed by a simple majority vote (instead of a 67-vote supermajority as things stand now).