Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Hallie Jackson Reports” that the Senate’s filibuster was “racist” in its origin and intent.
Markey added the Democrats will “ultimately have a vote on whether or not we repeal the filibuster.”
Markey said, “We need 60 votes to protect voting rights. We have 50 Democrats ready to go. Every Democrat is ready to protect voting rights. We need ten Republicans. We are can’t find Republicans to back voting rights, to stop the suppression of the votes in state after state, red state after red state where the state legislatures are making it more difficult for black and brown people to vote.”
He added, “We are hoping that this debate will touch something in Republican senator’s hearts that unleashes a historic perspective in terms of their commitment to voting rights. If it doesn’t, we need to have a debate, in my opinion, on the filibuster. It’s racist in its origin, it’s racist in its intent, and we have to ultimately have a vote on whether or not we repeal the filibuster so that we can pass voting rights without a single Republican supporting it. Which is a sad commentary on the state of the Trump Republican Party in 2022.”
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