Biden Pushes THIS CHANGE To Congressional Voting Rules
(RightWing.org) – After Democrats won the House and Senate in November 2020, the far-Left smelled blood in the water. They began arguing that the Senate should abolish the filibuster to pass their far-left climate change, social policy, and economic agenda. That would allow the upper chamber to pass legislation through a simple majority vote instead of the current 60-vote threshold.
In the evenly divided Senate, the Democrats only have the simple majority because Vice President Kamala Harris is a Democrat who breaks a tie. On Friday, June 24, the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade, which sent Democrats into a tizzy. Now, President Joe Biden says he’s for carving out an exception to the filibuster to pass abortion legislation. While that sounds horrible for the immediate future, it could be even worse for Democrats in the future.
Biden Calls for Axing Filibuster for Abortion Rights
On Thursday, June 30, Biden said he would support carving out an exception to the filibuster to allow the Senate to restore abortion rights. In May, House Democrats passed legislation that would have made abortion legal throughout the United States. Due to the filibuster, it never stood a chance of making it past the evenly divided Senate where it ultimately failed.
Since 1789, debating legislation for extended periods of time was used by the minority in the Senate to block legislation, which was known as a filibuster. Today, the minority party uses a process called “cloture,” which limits any further consideration of a bill. In order to overcome a filibuster, 60 votes are needed so that the Senate can then move to vote on a piece of legislation.
After decades of opposition, Biden is now saying that he supports the erosion of minority rights in the Senate so that Democrats can pass an abortion law without gaining an additional 10 GOP votes.
For some time, progressive Democrats have called to abolish the filibuster so that they could pass far-left legislation into law without any substantive debate or roadblocks. All they would need is 51 votes. Earlier this year, Democrats fell 11 votes short of the required 60 votes to end the filibuster and proceed with the abortion legislation. Still, they could employ the nuclear option and pass it with a simple majority if all Democrats agreed.
On Thursday, June 30, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) said they would not vote to end the filibuster. Manchin previously argued that one day, Democrats would find themselves on the other side of it and regret it.
Democrats Could Rue the Day
Consider for a second how we got here and how history could repeat itself. In 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) employed the nuclear option to end GOP filibusters on judicial nominees. Soon after, the GOP went all the way and applied it to SCOTUS nominees. That allowed former President Donald Trump to nominate three conservative justices who were primarily responsible for overturning Roe.
Manchin has repeatedly warned that if Democrats create more carve-outs for the filibuster, the same process will play out again. If Democrats pass partisan far-left laws, they could find themselves completely powerless when Republicans control Congress and the White House again in the future.
Republicans could easily overturn all the Left’s laws. Then, they could enact conservative policies that overturn things like the National Labor Relations Act, which would put a nail in the coffin of unions. They could finally break up the extreme liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Republicans could also overhaul Social Security and welfare programs, and Democrats would be helpless to do anything about it.
So, the Left may want to check its blind spot. Their rush to end the filibuster for judicial nominees hurt them once. If it happens again, it could be a huge blessing for Conservatives.
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