Warren: If McConnell Puts Partisanship Ahead of Solving Problems, ‘We Should Get Rid of the Filibuster’

During a speech on Friday, 2020 presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said that “if Mitch McConnell tries to do what he did to President Obama,” when Democrats hold the White House again, “then we should get rid of the filibuster.”

Warren said, “For generations, the filibuster was used as a tool to block progress on racial justice, and in recent years, it’s been used by the far right as a tool to block progress on everything. I’ve only served one term in the Senate, but I’ve seen what’s happened. We all saw what they did to President Obama. I’ve watched the Republicans abuse the rules when they’re out of power, and then turn around and blow off the rules when they’re in power. We saw it happen again just this week. Republicans spent years, years exploiting the rules to slow down or block President Obama’s mainstream judges and executive nominees, but now that they’re in power, they are unilaterally changing those rules to speed them up and run through President Trump’s extremist nominees.”

She added, “When Democrats next have power, we should be bold. We are done with two sets of rules, one for the Republicans and one for the Democrats. And that means, when the Democrats have the White House again, if Mitch McConnell tries to do what he did to President Obama, and puts small-minded partisanship ahead of solving the massive problems in this country, then we should get rid of the filibuster.”

(h/t Grabien)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett