Commentary

I don’t often agree with the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal when they publish an opinion piece in opposition to President Trump, but their position against his pressing Republicans to kill the filibuster rule is right.

The president wants them to nuke the rule to pass the SAVE Ameriica Act, a Republican-backed bill to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 with its primary goal of ensuring that only U.S. citizens can register and vote in federal elections, requiring voters to present proof of citizenship when registering and a photo ID when voting, whether in person or by mail.

Caving on the filibuster rule just for that would be serious mistake.  Not worth giving up the 60-vote rule. 

The president frequently states that if the Democrats get control of the Senate again, that they will certainly kill the rule to increase the numbers of justices on the Supreme Court, make Washington DC and Puerto Rico states, pass Medicare for all, among others often mentioned by the left.

Regular readers may recall my previous commentaries on this rule.  Checking my archives, I was surprised that five years had passed since I wrote about former Arizona Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema taking a firm stand to save the filibuster in “Arizona’s Senator Sinema ‘Won’t be Pushed Around’”

“If anyone expected me to reverse my position because my party now controls the Senate,” said Sinema, “they should know that my approach to legislating in Congress is the same whether in the minority or majority

You may also recall her “thumbs down” vote on the $15 minimum wage on the Senate floor as a mirror image of John McCain’s “thumbs down” vote on ObamaCare

“Her issue,” she said, was that “the wage increase had nothing to do with Covid relief.”  Sinema has become a stickler for the rules.

Of course, Sinema is no longer in the Senate to stand up against killing it for the voting rule change.  Neither is Joe Manchin.  But there is John Fetterman, who I think would stand up for keeping the filibuster rule I place.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune tells the president he doesn’t have the votes.  Thune’s walking a thin line, but I have a feeling he isn’t trying hard.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.