Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to uphold the filibuster if the GOP takes control of the filibuster and called Democrats “radicals” for trying to vote to end the 60-vote threshold later Wednesday.
“I think it’s pretty safe to say this is the biggest day in the history of the Senate because we’re dealing with a Senate as an institution,” McConnell, a senator from Kentucky, said following a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans.
Democrats plan to bring up a vote Wednesday evening that would allow them to alter the 60-vote threshold unilaterally for a pair of partisan election overhaul measures combined into one bill. While it would only green-light a simple majority for one piece of legislation, lawmakers in both parties say it would open the door to using the same strategy for other bills, circumventing the filibuster and essentially ending it.
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The plan Democrats envision would require anyone who votes against ending debate on the bill to engage in a talking filibuster, which would require a nonstop floor speech.
Democrats say it is necessary to curb the filibuster in order to pass the two election overhaul measures. The two bills would broaden federal control over election changes in some states and would roll back recent red-state voter integrity laws. Democrats say the new laws, passed in 19 states, would hinder voter access, particularly among minorities, which Republicans dispute, citing record voter turnout.
“The concern is misplaced,” McConnell said. “African American voters are voting in as high a percentage as other Americans. This is not a problem.”
Senate Democrats plan to take up the rule change after they hold the vote on the election overhaul measures, which the GOP will move to block using the filibuster.
The effort to change the rule is unlikely to be successful thanks to opposition from two centrist Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
“Win, lose, or draw, we are going to vote,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. “We are going to vote. Especially when the issue relates to the beating heart of our democracy as voting rights does.”
