Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been bleating about the need to repeal the filibuster so Democrats can bulldoze through President Joe Biden’s radical, leftist agenda.
Biden, who himself spent decades in the Senate and often defended its traditions, also favored getting rid of the filibuster, the rules of which require 60 votes to move legislation forward. In a speech this week in Georgia, Biden said, “I’m tired of being quiet. I support changing the Senate rules, whichever way they need to be changed to prevent a minority of senators from blocking actions on voting rights.”
Biden failed to note that two senators from his own party side with the Republicans in rejecting the idea of changing the rules – which means his position is actually the minority one in the Senate.
Nonetheless, GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas delivered a stinging rebuke to this idea on Wednesday.
“Right now, we are on the precipice of a constitutional crisis. We’re about to step into the abyss,” Cotton said in his floor speech. “What is the crisis that calls for the undoing of two centuries of tradition?”
“It is not the American people at large who are demanding detonation of the nuclear option,” Cotton continued. “The nuclear option is being pushed largely by the radioactive rhetoric of a small band of radicals who hold in their hands the political fortunes of the president.”
He noted that the filibuster was part of longtime rules “embodied in the spirit and role” of the Constitution. “That’s what the Constitution is all about. We all know it.”
The Founding Fathers, he added with affirmation, established the Senate in part so that that the “slimmest majority should not always govern,” as occurs in the House. “The Senate is not a majoritarian body,” said Cotton.
The Senate “ideologues” Cotton continued, “want to turn what the Founding Fathers called the cooling saucer of democracy into a rubber stamp of dictatorship.”
“They will make this country into a banana republic – where if you don’t get your way, you change the rules. Are we going to let them? It will be a doomsday for democracy if we do.”
Moreover, Cotton said, “I will do everything I can to prevent the nuclear option from being invoked – not for the sake of myself or my party, but for the sake of this great republic and its traditions.”
Then Cotton made the big reveal.
He said his entire speech was actually one given by Schumer, who “spoke so eloquently in defense of the Senate’s rules, customs, and traditions when the fortunes of his party looked a little different.”
“My how times have changed. Now, it’s Sen. Schumer’s fingers that are hovering over the nuclear button, ready to destroy the Senate for partisan advantage.”
“Before it’s too late,” Cotton concluded, “let us reflect on the wise and eloquent words of Sen. Schumer – words that are as true today as they were when he spoke them, even if Sen. Schumer is singing a different tune today.”
Visit Tampafp.com for Politics, Tampa Area Local News, Sports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GoFundMe or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. It’s Free And Coming To Apple Users Soon