Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is desperately trying to change Senate rules to make it easier for Democrats to ram their agenda through Congress.
Despite Democrats’ past use of the filibuster to block legislation and nominees, Schumer is now threatening Republicans with changes to Senate rules, which only require a majority vote, if they don’t support Democrat efforts to federalize elections.
“The fight for the ballot is as old as the Republic,” Schumer wrote in a Dear Colleague letter released Monday. “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,” Schumer continued. “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.”
For Our VIP Subscribers: The Democrats’ Disdain for Rules Hurts Our Republic
Perhaps the most ironic thing about Schumer giving Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the deadline for Republicans to fall in line is that, in his letter, he quotes the late Sen. Robert Byrd, a former segregationist who opposed civil rights legislation and was also a former “Exalted Cyclops” in the KKK.
“As former Senator Robert Byrd famously said, Senate Rules’ must be changed to reflect changed circumstances,'” Schumer wrote. “Put more plainly by Senator Byrd, ‘Congress is not obliged to be bound by the dead hand of the past.'”
Despite his racist past, the late Senator Byrd remains a highly respected figure in the Democratic Party, because he “apologized” for his racism or something.
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