Scott Walker to Senate GOP: Get rid of filibuster for Trump
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is calling on Senate Republicans to get rid of the filibuster to help a Trump administration get its priorities passed through the upper chamber.
“He wants to be able to say, ‘We won,’ and that best way to do that is to allow [Speaker] Paul [Ryan (R-Wis.)] to help lead the way in the House,” Walker told radio host Charlie Sykes. “I think the Senate, people like [Sen.] Ron Johnson [R-Wis.] for sure — Ron wants to help Paul in that regard. My biggest concern is that they not allow, some of these arcane rules that have nothing to with the Constitution.”
{mosads}Asked if he was calling on Senate leadership to get rid of the filibuster, which sets up a 60-vote procedural threshold for legislation, Walker said Trump supporters would be “really upset” if Senate hurdles blocked the president-elect’s agenda.
“You cannot use, they cannot use inside-the-ballpark Washington procedural reasons to justify why things don’t happen. They’ve got to get things done, and as I said frequently here in this state and continue to, the best time to do them is early,” Walker said, according to audio of the interview uploaded by CNN.
House Republicans and some presidential candidates have called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to get rid of the filibuster since Republicans took control of the upper chamber, arguing the 60-vote requirement gives Democrats too much influence.
But the Kentucky Republican publicly brushed off those comments last year, saying to reporters, “We appreciate all of the good advice we’re getting.”
Under the current breakdown of the Senate, Republicans need at least six Democrat votes to get over the hurdle.
Asked Wednesday if he would consider getting rid of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations if Democrats try to filibuster a pick from Trump next year, McConnell demurred.
“I’m not going to address what might happen in the context of a Supreme Court pick,” he told reporters.
Democrats — including outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) — floated that Democrats could use the “nuclear option” on Supreme Court picks if they won back the upper chamber in 2017 and Republicans tried to block a Hillary Clinton pick, had she won the White House.
In 2013, Senate Democrats changed the filibuster rules on most of Obama’s nominees, allowing their approval by simple majority but left the 60-vote hurdle intact for Supreme Court nominations.
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