Politics

McConnell Says Eliminating Filibuster Would ‘Disfigure The Senate’

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that eliminating the Senate filibuster would “disfigure the Senate” during a speech on the Senate floor Monday.

“This threat to permanently disfigure, to disfigure the Senate, has been the latest growing drumbeat in the modern Democratic Party’s war against our governing institutions,” McConnell said, according to The Hill.

McConnell’s comments came after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer promised last month to “do what it takes” to advance Democratic Party policy initiatives, even if that means doing away with the longstanding practice.

“We have a moral imperative to the people of America to get a whole lot done, if we get the majority, which God-willing we will, and keep it in the House, and Biden becomes President, nothing is off the table,” Schumer told “The Joe Madison Show” in a radio interview.

McConnell resisted calls to do away with the filibuster himself in 2017 when Republicans controlled all three branches, citing the lack of votes as well as the possibility of Democrats regaining control.

The Kentucky senator reportedly referenced Democrats’ own use of the procedure to block coronavirus relief and police reform to accuse them of engaging in “the most shameless hypocrisy.”

“Today’s Democrats have lost patience with playing by the rules and want to wage war on the rulebook itself,” he said. (RELATED: ‘That’s Bulls**t’: Manchin Says He Will Oppose Abolishing The Filibuster If Democrats Retake The Senate)