Harry Reid: Filibuster on Its Way Out — ‘Not a Question of If But When’

Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that it was only a matter of time before Democrats eliminate the Senate filibuster rule.

In a video of his senate speech played during the segment, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin to imagine what a completely scorched earth Senate would look like. This chaos would not open up an express lane to liberal change. It would not open up an express lane for the Biden presidency to speed into the history books. The Senate would be more like a 100-car pileup. When the Republicans wound up back in the saddle, we wouldn’t just erase every liberal change that hurt the country. We’d strengthen America with all kinds of conservative policies with zero, zero input from the other side.”

Reid said, “McConnell is facing reality, and it bothers him a lot. The filibuster is on its way out. It’s not a question of if but when. It may not be tomorrow or six months from now, but the filibuster is doomed for failure. You can’t have a democracy that requires 60% of the vote on everything. That’s what the Republicans have done. They have made a mockery of what the Senate should be. For example, Lyndon Johnson was a leader for six years. He had to overcome two filibusters. I had to overcome more than 100 filibusters. The car pileup that McConnell is talking about is already there. They created it.”

He added, “Mitch McConnell is crying crocodile tears that nobody cares because what he has done to the Senate is a mockery of what the Senate used to be. When they were in control of the Senate, they didn’t allow any amendments. There was certainly no votes on anything other than judges. That’s all they did. We now have a Democratic majority, it’s a close majority but we control it because of Kamala Harris is vice president…We have Mitch McConnell crying oh, it’s going to be terrible to get rid of the filibuster, but the country is better off by having a real democracy, not a fake democracy. Sixty-percent is not a democracy. ”

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