May 11, 2021
Dear Liberty Activist,
“Here’s the deal. As you’ve observed, I’m a fairly practical guy. I want to get things done. I want to get them done consistent with what we promised the American people. And in order to do that with a 50-50 Senate, we’ve got to get to the place where I get 50 votes so that the Vice President of the United States can break the tie… If there’s a lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’ll have to go beyond what I’m talking about.”
That was President Joe Biden at his March 25 press conference doubling down on his threat to eliminate the filibuster to enact radical changes to federal election law, shifting power from state legislatures to Congress — and changing the way the Senate does business forever.
It is a brazen power grab from a President who just two months ago was promising to restore unity to the nation. So much for that.
H.R. 1 would require states to automatically register residents to vote at Departments of Motor Vehicles, turn the Federal Election Commission into a partisan entity controlled by the White House party, dramatically change Congressional redistricting, require the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, eliminate state restrictions on mail-in voting, require same-day voter registration and gut state voter identification laws.
Adding urgency to matter, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is promising its Senate companion, S. 1 “will pass this body.”
The Senate filibuster, rule XXII requiring 60-vote thresholds to end debate on any topic including legislation, has never been in greater danger of being eliminated. The rule itself has been in place since 1917.
Should Democrats collectively decide to overrule the parliamentarian — the nuclear option — on ending debate on legislation, it will forever turn the Senate into a partisan mechanism for making permanent changes to law.
So far, two Senate Democrats stand in the way. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) in an early April interview in Phoenix stated, “When you have a place that’s broken and not working, and many would say that’s the Senate today, I don’t think the solution is to erode the rules. I think the solution is for senators to change their behavior and begin to work together, which is what the country wants us to do.”
And Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for his part on April 7 penned an oped for the Washington Post entitled, “I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster,” wherein he wrote, “The filibuster is a critical tool to protecting that input and our democratic form of government. That is why I have said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt: There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster.”
You know what to do! Let's get on Voter Voice and urge the Senate to reject President Biden's radical plan to end the filibuster and pass legislation nationalizing election law.
As Manchin
explained, “Pushing through legislation of this magnitude on a partisan basis
may garner short-term benefits, but will inevitably only exacerbate the
distrust that millions of Americans harbor against the U.S. government. We can
and we must reform our federal elections together — not as Democrats and
Republicans.”
If the Senate does do away with the filibuster, the radical demands from the Democratic base will not end there. They will immediately move to legalize 12 million or more illegal immigrants, who will predominantly vote for Democrats, make D.C. and Puerto Rico states, pack the U.S. Supreme Court and more in a bid to cement one-party rule.
The end of the bipartisan Senate will have ramifications in this country that will be felt for years — and decades — to come. Senators Sinema and Manchin and their colleagues will decide our fate as a nation, either with a competitive two-party system — or a one-party rubber stamp issuing dictates.
Let’s keep fighting!
For Liberty,
Robert Romano
Vice President of Public Policy
Americans for Limited Government
https://www.votervoice.net/ALG/campaigns/83191/respond
