Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s Thursday speech rejecting changes to the long-standing filibuster was met with silence from fellow Democrats but widespread praise from Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The Kentucky Republican, in a hallway interview with Capitol reporters, called Sinema’s floor speech an “act of political courage” that “saved the Senate as an institution.”
Democrats have been working for weeks to try to round up unanimous support among their own party lawmakers to end or alter the 60-vote threshold needed to pass legislation. Republicans have argued such a move would lead to legislative whiplash as party majorities inevitably flip.
‘WILL NOT SUPPORT’ FILIBUSTER CHANGE: SINEMA DASHES SENATE DEMOCRATS’ HOPES
Democrats hoped to use the rules change to pass two partisan election bills party lawmakers say are needed to help incumbents hold on to their seats against GOP challengers in key states, including Georgia.
Sinema backs both bills, she said during the floor speech. The legislation would block red-state voter integrity laws Democrats claim will restrict voter access but proponents believe will ensure secure and accurate election results.
Barring a filibuster rule change, Democrats cannot pass the legislation without at least 10 Republicans. All GOP lawmakers oppose the two bills.
“Eliminating the 60-vote threshold will simply guarantee that we lose a critical tool that we need to safeguard our democracy from threats in the years to come,” Sinema said, rejecting the change.
Sinema’s speech comes ahead of President Joe Biden’s planned visit to the Senate, where he hoped to convince her and fellow centrist holdout Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, to back the change. Democrats wanted to pass the legislation by mid-January, in time to stop new voter integrity laws ahead of the midterm elections.
Republicans for weeks have been urging Democrats not to upend the filibuster, which would open the legislative floodgates, perhaps irreversibly.
Republicans argued that they resisted changes to the 60-vote threshold while they held the majority under President Donald Trump and said the upper chamber should maintain the role of “cooling saucer” to the fast-paced House, where a simple majority is all that is needed to pass a bill.
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Sinema agreed and called for greater cooperation between Republicans and Democrats and pointed out the two parties have cooperated many times to pass important legislation.
“I thought she was very articulate and obviously feels passionately and deeply about not only the subject matter but also the process issue that she addressed, and it’s consistent kind of with where I think she’s been coming from for some time,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said following Sinema’s speech.
