The first time Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) ran for the U.S. Senate, which was in 2017 when Alabama’s U.S. seat was up after the departure of Jeff Sessions, who left to serve as then-President Donald Trump’s attorney general, Brooks opposed the U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule, as did his Republican primary opponents, then-Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) and former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice Roy Moore.
The scenario was different at the time, as Republicans had control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.
Despite the filibuster having aided Republicans under the current circumstances to fend off liberal legislation as Democrats now control the House, Senate and White House, Brooks still thinks the filibuster rule should go.
“The filibuster is not a foundational principle,” he said. “The filibuster is a rule, a procedure, a process. And it has never worked as an offensive took for conservatives over the last century, OK? Sometimes it has worked as a defensive tool for conservatives, but over the last century, the liberals have had control of the House and a filibuster-proof Senate and the White House about two decades of those 100 years. We, on the conservative side, have never had that. So what happens is — when the socialists, when the liberals have control over everything, and they can blow by the filibuster because they’ve got 60 or more Senate votes, they’re able to institute these radical, leftist programs, and we are never able to reverse them because we have never over that hundred-year period of time had a filibuster-proof Senate.”
“So, we’ve got to evaluate how best to balance the continual erosion of our values because we cannot overcome the filibuster rule,” Brooks continued. “So, I’m one of those who thinks if we have total control over everything and this is our last shot to revive our foundational principles, by golly don’t let the filibuster rule stand in the way. But if we’re in the minority and it’s a defensive tool, then keep it.”
When asked about the current politics and the filibusters, Brooks once again pointed to the long-term trend.
“Over the last hundred years, Jeff, we have lost ground from taking that ground back,” he added. “Once lost, it’s lost forever.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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