Democrats shoot down McConnell's filibuster gambit
By Jordain Carney - 01/21/21 10:09 AM EST
Democrats are shooting down an effort by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to include protections for the legislative filibuster as part of a Senate power-sharing deal.
"We’re not going to give him what he wishes. If you did that then there would be just unbridled use of it. I mean nothing holding him back," said Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, on Thursday.
McConnell has urged Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to include a preservation of the 60-vote legislative filibuster in any deal they strike on how to organize an evenly split 50-50 Senate, a request that is threatening to drag out their talks and keep much of the Senate in limbo for several more days.
McConnell, according to Durbin, wanted to include in the Senate's rules a guarantee that there would be no effort to pursue the "nuclear option" — changing the rules with a simple majority rather than the higher 60- or 67-vote threshold — during the next two years, or as long as the 50-50 split lasted.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/535197-democrats-shoot-down-mcconnells-filibuster-gambit
