Thune: “My Way or the Highway” for Senate Democrats

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about Senate Democrats' reckless plan to end the legislative filibuster, a short-sighted political tactic to advance their far-left agenda and silence the minority party. Thune noted that Democrats have a record of changing the rules whenever they interfere with the party's progressive agenda.

Thune's remarks below (as prepared for delivery):

"Mr. President, it's no secret that Democrats increasingly subscribe to the philosophy that if you don't like the way the game is going, you change the rules.

"We've seen it in striking fashion with the Supreme Court.

"Democrats respond to pretty much every Supreme Court decision they don't like these days with claims not just that the court's decision was wrong, but that the court itself is illegitimate.

"And as the president made clear with the release of his de facto court-packing plan this summer, if Democrats are elected we can confidently expect them to lose no time in remaking the court to their liking to ensure they get the policy outcomes they want.

"But of course the Supreme Court is not the only institution Democrats have a problem with.

"Democrats are also frustrated that they haven't gotten a blank check for their far-left priorities in the Senate.

"And so if Democrats win in November, they intend to change the rules of the Senate - specifically, the filibuster rule - to ensure that they can steamroll through their plans to remake the government and the country.

"The Democrat leader made that very explicit last month at the Democrat National Convention, when he said that his party would change the rules to pass Democrats' so-called voting rights legislation - more accurately described as a federal takeover of elections designed to give Democrats a permanent electoral advantage.

"He also indicated that his conference would move to change the rules to pass abortion legislation - perhaps Democrats' bill to codify abortion up until the moment of birth.

"Really, the only question remaining seems to be whether Democrats will abolish the filibuster completely, or just render it meaningless by carving out exemptions for all Democrats' most cherished priorities.

"Mr. President, I have spoken on the floor more than once about the importance of the filibuster.

"The Founders intended the Senate to be a counterbalance to the House.

"It was designed as a more stable, more thoughtful, and more deliberative legislative body to check ill-considered or intemperate legislation or tyranny by the majority.

"And as time has gone on, the legislative filibuster is the Senate rule that has had perhaps the greatest impact in preserving the Founders' vision of the Senate.

"The filibuster acts as a check on imprudent or highly partisan legislation.

"It forces discussion and compromise.

"And, critically, it ensures that Americans whose party is not in power also have a voice in Congress.

"As one senator said a few years ago when abolishing the filibuster was under discussion, 'Folks who want to see this change want to eliminate one of the procedural mechanisms designed for the express purpose of guaranteeing individual rights … and would undermine the protections of a minority point of view in the heat of majority excess.'

"That senator was Joe Biden.

"Or as another senator once said when a change to the filibuster rule was under discussion: 'The bottom line is very simple: the ideologues in the Senate want to turn what the Founding Fathers called the cooling saucer of democracy into the rubber stamp of dictatorship. … They want, because they can't get their way … 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! … It'll be a doomsday for democracy if we do.'

"'It'll be a doomsday for democracy if we do.'

"The senator who said that, of course, was the current Democrat leader of the Senate.

"The same leader who has announced that his party will 'change the rules in midstream' to force through Democrats' priorities.

"Mr. President, I suppose the Democrat leader could have had a change of heart.

"This once-fierce defender of the filibuster could have become convinced that the filibuster no longer serves a useful purpose.

"But if that's what this is - if this is truly a principled change - then I would like to hear the Democrat leader endorse the abolition of the filibuster if Republicans win the election.

"I would like to hear him argue that a Republican Congress and a Republican president should be able to force through every legislative priority Republicans want - whether that's real border security legislation or a ban on killing unborn children past the point in a pregnancy where they can feel pain.

"I suspect, however, that the Democrat leader has not had this change of heart.

"In fact, I suspect that if President Trump wins the election and Republicans take the House and the Senate, the Democrat leader will be happy to use the filibuster to check Republican legislation, just as he did during President Trump's first term.

"Funnily enough, I don't recall hearing much from Democrats about the need to abolish the filibuster then.

"In fact, 32 Democrats - including then-Senator Kamala Harris - signed a letter in April of 2017 calling on Senate leadership to preserve the legislative filibuster.

"In short, Mr. President, it's pretty clear that the Democrat leader's change of heart isn't principle.

"It's political expediency.

"Democrats believe that the rules should apply when they serve the aims of the Democrat Party - and that the rules should be abolished whenever they interfere with Democrats' far-left agenda.

"Mr. President, if Democrats abolish the filibuster - in whole or in part - it would (to quote the current Democrat whip) 'be the end of the Senate as it was originally devised and created going back to our Founding Fathers.'

"The minority party - in the Senate and in the country - would no longer have any meaningful voice in legislation.

"The loss of the filibuster would also create legislative whiplash, with one party passing all its most controversial proposals when it has unified power in Washington, and then the other party undoing all of that legislation and passing its own proposals when it gains unified power.

"To say that that kind of legislative instability would be bad for our country is an understatement.

"Sharp changes in federal policy every few years would mean endless confusion for Americans - and could spell serious trouble for our economy.

"And, Mr. President, abolishing the filibuster would not only be bad for our country, I suspect Democrats would regret it on their own behalf - and sooner rather than later.

"I realize that Democrats have hopes that if they pass their so-called voting rights legislation it will help them stay in power, but surely Democrats don't believe that they can maintain a permanent hold on government.

"There have been some pretty robust Senate majorities in American history, but sooner or later, power has always shifted.

"And when it inevitably does, Democrats are likely to bitterly regret the loss of the legislative filibuster.

"Democrats have already had cause to regret the loss of the filibuster for judicial nominations.

"More than one Democrat senator has openly admitted regretting Democrats' move to abolish the filibuster for judges and other nominees.

"They should take a lesson from that.

"And if Democrats have the incredibly naïve idea that they can somehow preserve the filibuster by simply creating a carveout for their top legislative priorities, they should think again.

"The unraveling of the filibuster for judicial nominations should be a lesson to both parties on how well weakening the filibuster or creating a filibuster carveout would work.

"Democrats carved out a filibuster exception for executive and judicial nominees.

"And Republicans took it to its logical conclusion.

"A legislative filibuster carveout would be the end of the legislative filibuster. Period.

"Mr. President, it's become disturbingly clear that the Democrat Party is committed to getting its way in whatever way it can - no matter how many institutions it damages or how many rules it breaks in the process.

"But I would hope that at least some of my Democrat colleagues might think about the fact that their operating principle of 'the rules don't apply to us' is generally more associated with despots than democratic republics.

"And that they would put the long-term health of our country and our institutions above short-term partisan gain.

"Mr. President, I yield the floor."

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