Democrats’ Filibuster Hypocrisy Exposed as Schumer Pushes to Nuke Rules He Once Called “Doomsday for Democracy”

On 1/4/2022, Senate Republican leaders held a press conference exposing what they called the breathtaking hypocrisy of Democratic efforts to eliminate the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had set a January 17 deadline for a vote on amending Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation with a simple majority. Republicans compiled a devastating montage of Democrats — including Schumer, Biden, and Harris — passionately defending the filibuster when they were in the minority.

Schumer’s Own Words: “Banana Republic”

The centerpiece of the Republican case was Schumer’s own prior defense of the filibuster. In 2005, Schumer had said: “They want, because they can’t get their way on every judge, to change the rules in midstream, 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 the rules. Are we going to let them? It’ll be a doomsday for democracy if we do.”

In 2017, Schumer had insisted that if you couldn’t get 60 votes, “you shouldn’t change the rules.” A letter signed by a majority of current sitting Democratic senators had come out in “hard opposition” to eliminating the filibuster.

Now, as majority leader, Schumer declared: “If Republicans continue to hijack the rules of the chamber to prevent action on something as critical as protecting our democracy, then the Senate will debate and consider changes to the rules. The stakes could not be higher, so we are going to move forward.”

McConnell: “Genuine Radicalism”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the push “genuine radicalism.” “Based on what the majority leader said, he’s going to try to break the Senate, break the legislative filibuster to make some kind of narrow exception. There is no such thing as a narrow exception,” McConnell said.

McConnell argued Democrats wanted to destroy the filibuster not for voting rights but for broader goals. “They want to turn the Senate into the House. They want to make it easy to fundamentally change the country. For example, admitting new states — the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — to have four new Democratic senators, or to pack the Supreme Court,” McConnell said.

“The filibuster has been a way to conduct American business in the political center. If you’re a football fan, think of it as between the 40 yard lines,” McConnell said. “Unless either side gets a very large majority, it insists upon moderation and compromise.”

Biden’s Senate Floor Speech

Republicans also played Biden’s own 2005 Senate floor speech defending the filibuster. “We should make no mistake. This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power. It is a fundamental power grab by the majority party,” then-Senator Biden had said. He warned that “the nuclear option would transform the Senate from the so-called cooling saucer our founding fathers talked about to cool the passions of the day to a pure majoritarian body like a parliament.”

By January 2022, Biden had reversed course entirely, telling ABC News: “If it’s the only thing standing between voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster, I support making the exception of voting rights for the filibuster.”

Democrats Used It 270 Times

McConnell noted that Democrats themselves had used the filibuster extensively when in the minority. “Democrats the last time they were in the minority, just the last time, used the filibuster 270 times,” he said. “And one of them was to block the Justice Act, a police reform bill put forward by a Black Republican senator, Tim Scott.”

When confronted with this, Senator Jim Clyburn attempted to draw a distinction, saying the filibuster should not apply to “constitutional issues like voting.” But a reporter pressed: “Senator, haven’t you voted in favor of filibustering Republican legislation?” Clyburn acknowledged: “We have used the 60-vote threshold a number of times.”

Manchin and Sinema Hold the Line

Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema remained the two Democrats opposed to changing the rules. Manchin said on the floor: “I’m not going to be part of blowing up this Senate of ours or basically this democracy of ours. If we have a 51-vote threshold in the Senate, the same as the House — the House was designed to be hot as a firecracker. We were designed to cool it off.”

“If you have the violent swings every time you have a party change, then we won’t have no consistency whatsoever,” Manchin added.

”No Interest in Governing From the Middle”

McConnell framed the fight as exposing the administration’s approach to governance. “This election wasn’t about mandate. He said it was about competence. It was about ability to govern from the middle,” McConnell said of Biden. “Neither one of those has proven to be exactly the way the administration has functioned. And particularly, no interest in governing from the middle. The interest has been governing from the extreme edge of not just the party, but the extreme edge of the country.”

Key Takeaways

Schumer pushed to eliminate the filibuster for voting rights after calling it “doomsday for democracy” and warning it would make the U.S. “a banana republic” in 2005.
Biden reversed his own 2005 position calling the filibuster “the arrogance of power” and “a fundamental power grab by the majority party.”
Democrats had used the filibuster 270 times during their most recent minority, including to block Senator Tim Scott’s police reform bill.
Senators Manchin and Sinema stood as the two Democrats opposing rule changes, with Manchin saying he would not be “part of blowing up this Senate.”
McConnell accused Biden of governing from “the extreme edge of the country” rather than the center he had promised.

Transcript Highlights

The following is transcribed from the video audio (unverified — AI-generated from audio).

They want to make this country into a banana republic, where if you don’t get your way, you change the rules. It’ll be a doomsday for democracy if we do.
This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power. It is a fundamental power grab by the majority party.
There is no such thing as a narrow exception. This is genuine radicalism. They want to turn the Senate into the House.
Democrats the last time they were in the minority used the filibuster 270 times, and one of them was to block a police reform bill put forward by a Black Republican senator.
I’m not going to be part of blowing up this Senate of ours. The House was designed to be hot as a firecracker. We were designed to cool it off.
No interest in governing from the middle. The interest has been governing from the extreme edge of the country.

Full transcript: 1841 words transcribed via Whisper AI.