While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is warning Democrats might try to change the filibuster rules to advance voting rights legislation, a video from over a decade ago shows the New York senator warning against eliminating the procedural hurdle.
On Monday, the Nathan Brand, the Republican National Committee’s deputy communications director, 2005 video surfaced of Schumer warning against eliminating the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes to overcome and advance legislation.
“The ideologues in the Senate want to turn what the Founding Fathers called the ‘cooling saucer of democracy’ into the rubber-stamp of dictatorship. We will not let them,” Schumer said.
He continued, “They want, because they can’t get their way on every judge, to change the rules in mid-stream. To wash away 200 years of history. They want to make this country into a banana republic where if you don’t get your way, you change rules…It will be a doomsday for democracy.”
Watch the video below:
“Doomsday for democracy” – Democrat Chuck Schumer in 2005 on eliminating the filibuster
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) January 3, 2022
pic.twitter.com/nWwG4Oa4CR
In a “Dear Colleague” letter on Monday, Schumer said Democrats will “consider changes” to the filibuster if Republicans obstruct their efforts to pass voting rights legislation.
He noted that the Senate was “designed to protect the political rights of the minority in the chamber.” However, he claimed, “Over the years, those rights have been warped and contorted to obstruct and embarrass the will of majority – something our Founders explicitly opposed.”
“We must ask ourselves: if the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, then how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the Republican Party can debate and pass voter suppression laws at the State level with only a simple majority vote, but not allow the United States Senate to do the same?” he insisted.
Finally, Schumer wrote, “The fight for the ballot is as old as the Republic. Over the coming weeks, the Senate will once again consider how to perfect this union and confront the historic challenges facing our democracy.”
“We hope our Republican colleagues change course and work with us. But if they do not, the Senate will debate and consider changes to Senate rules on or before January 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to protect the foundation of our democracy: free and fair elections,” he added.
Schumer’s threat to consider changes to the filibuster comes as Democrats turn their attention to voting rights. Last year, Senate Republicans repeatedly blocked similar voting rights bills.
The focus on voting legislation comes after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) sunk Democrats’ hopes of passing a massive social spending package.
In order to change the filibuster rules, Schumer would need Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-Ariz.) support. However, both senators have signaled a reluctance to changing the rule.
