JUST IN: Senate Republicans Wednesday filibustered Democrat-backed election legislation, denying it the 60 votes it needed to advance and setting up a potential “nuclear option” gambit by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to use a party-line vote to lower the filibuster threshold for the legislation.
“Tonight, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden led the left in an attempt to blow up the Senate rules to federalize elections. They want to silence Americans and ban voter ID. States – not radicals in Washington – must remain in control of our elections,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wrote on Twitter.
All Republicans voted against a procedural vote on the legislation, which combines two major election bills. The result was a 49-51 vote after Schumer, D-N.Y., changed his vote to the prevailing side so we could offer a motion to reconsider. All other Democrats voted in the affirmative.
1) Push a bill that makes it more difficult for Dems to rig elections.
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) January 20, 2022
2) Claim anyone who opposes you is on the side of segregationists and “Jim Crow 2.0.”
3) Say the midterm election results are illegitimate if it doesn’t pass.
Joe Biden is playing a truly malicious game.
Now Schumer is expected initiate a “nuclear option” to try to get rid of the 60-vote threshold entirely so Democrats can pass their election legislation.
“Democrats are quick to use the filibuster on commonsense legislation that Republicans would like to see, like sanctioning Russia just last week. But when it comes to their power grab to federalize our elections, they’re willing to destroy the U.S. Senate to get their way,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN).