The Democrats’ hypocrisy on the Senate’s filibuster cannot be overstated. The same people who are trying to abolish the legislative tool now were defending it not too long ago, and they ought to be reminded of their shameful political opportunism at every turn.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas did just that during a Wednesday speech on the Senate floor, giving a passionate defense of the filibuster (which requires the majority party to round up 60 total votes for most legislation) using Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s own words.
“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,” Cotton said.
? BREAKING: Chuck Schumer* speaks on the Senate floor in defense of the filibuster.
*Senator Cotton’s speech consisted entirely of Senator Schumer’s past statements. pic.twitter.com/zGfbpr7G5t
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 12, 2022
“Constitutional scholars will tell us that the reason we have these rules in the Senate, unlimited debate, two-thirds to change the rules, the idea that 60 have to close off debate, is debate in the spirit and role of the Constitution,” he said. “That is what the Constitution is all about. We all know it.”
Schumer is far from the only Democrat who has flip-flopped on this issue. Most of his party has, including President Joe Biden, who once declared that gutting the filibuster would “eviscerate the Senate” as we know it and “turn it into the House of Representatives.” Now, however, Biden would like the public to believe that abolishing the filibuster is the only way to preserve democracy and that anyone who disagrees with him is a racist.
“We have no option but to change the Senate rules, including getting rid of the filibuster for this,” Biden said during a speech this week. “Will we choose democracy over autocracy? Light over shadows? Justice over injustice? I know where I stand. The question is, where will the institution of the United States Senate stand?”
The answer is that the Senate will stand where Biden and dozens of other Democrats once urged it to stand: in defense of the filibuster. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have repeatedly affirmed their opposition to gutting it, and one can imagine Biden and Schumer’s attempts to make them out to be enemies of democracy because of this position will only strengthen their resolve.
Democratic leadership might not realize it, but Manchin and Sinema are trying to do them a favor. They’re making sure that when Republicans take back the majority, Democrats will continue to have some sort of say in the legislative process. And they’re trying to save Schumer, Biden, and the rest from the embarrassment of their own hypocrisy, which is, at this point, an impossible task.
