Dem Sen. Padilla on Eliminating the Filibuster: ‘Democracy Is More Important than Any Senate Rule’

Tuesday on MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) lamented the Senate filibuster as Democrats try to push through federal voting rights legislation.

The bill will likely not meet the 60-vote threshold it needs to overcome a guaranteed Republican filibuster.

Padilla argued that “democracy is more important than any Senate rule” and called for an end to some of “these old rules of the Senate for the sake of protecting our democracy.”

“As my colleague Senator Angus King from Maine put it earlier today, Democracy is more important than any Senate rule,” Padilla declared. “So, it’s the filibuster that has put us in this position of the Republicans refusing to cooperate, despite the attacks on the right to vote in statehouse after statehouse. So, if we need to adjust some rules around here to protect the right to vote, then that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

“I’ve got to tell you, Jose, it’s been pretty offensive throughout the year to hear Republicans say, ‘Well, we should modernize elections, but it has to be done on a bipartisan basis,’ and they use that to obstruct any of these proven reforms in Congress while they stand by and watch, in statehouse after statehouse, we’ve seen what’s happening in Georgia, we’ve seen what’s happening in Texas, we’ve seen what’s happened in Iowa and so many other states, on a partisan basis they are suppressing the vote, making it harder for eligible people to register, to stay registered to vote, and to cast their ballots,” he added. “So, it’s hypocrisy at its worst, and that’s what will drive an independent, right — Angus King from Maine is a registered independent — to say that the filibuster, depending on the majority and minority, you may have a different view, but our democracy is so important, yes, it’s time to get around these old rules of the Senate for the sake of protecting our democracy.”

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