RAYMOND, N.H. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee skewered the Democratic senators running for president on Saturday for lacking the political will to reform Congress so it is easier to turn a liberal policy agenda into law.
“Mitch McConnell called himself the Grim Reaper a few weeks ago,” Inslee told a crowd of about 60 people at a small campaign stop in Raymond, N.H. “The Grim Reaper, you know he’s got the scythe, right? He’s got the big cutting tool. Mitch McConnell has one right now, it’s called the filibuster. We need to take the filibuster away from Mitch McConnell so we can pass clean energy legislation.”
“I’m the first person in this race to say that, in part, I don’t believe in clinging to senatorial privilege. Senators feel they are sort of royalty sometimes,” the former congressman from Washington state said. “We need a Senate that works, that’s progressive, and the Democratic Party is the party for progressive change.”
Inslee, whose platform predominately focuses on tackling climate change, was talking about reforms he would like to make to protect democratic principles. Other proposals he raised included prohibiting “venal, un-American” voting practices that critics argue suppresses turnout, banning congressional district gerrymandering, and nixing the Electoral College.
Doing away with the filibuster would allow bills and confirmations to clear the Senate with a simple majority. Inslee, however, isn’t the only 2020 Democratic presidential contender to clamor for its elimination. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, for example, has also been vocal about the issue.
While Inslee touted his gubernatorial experience as a “template” for progressive governance and reiterated his desire to make President Trump “a blip” in history, audience questions covered topics from depression to whether he believed in abolishing the penny. The penny costs more to produce than it is worth and its circulation has environmental implications due to copper mining.
“So I asked my staff to find a brilliant person to ask a question I’ve never thought about before,” he said to laughs from the audience.
The governor held two other campaign events in New Hampshire on Saturday, a tour of Stonyfield Farms Plant in Londonderry and another in Concord to record a podcast. He’s scheduled to appear in Washington, Conn., on Sunday to “share his plan to create a clean energy economy and defeat the existential threat of climate change,” according to aides.
