Senate

GOP senator defends the filibuster

by Jordain Carney - 09/21/15 3:31 PM ET

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on a Monday floor speech defended the Senate’s filibuster, which House Republicans want to do away with.

Alexander said the filibuster, which requires most bills to get 60 votes to proceed through procedural motions, could be useful if the GOP finds itself in the minority again — as it was in the last Congress.

“Republicans who want to abolish the filibuster in the United States Senate are, I would suggest, Republicans with very short memories,” he said. “Let’s look at the future to the possibility of a President Hillary Clinton and a Democratic majority in both houses, and no Senate filibuster rule.”

Alexander’s remarks come as House Republicans have pushed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to do away with the 60-vote requirement for a resolution of disapproval on the Iran nuclear deal.

The resolution has been blocked from moving in the Senate by Democrats.

Fifty-seven House Republicans sent a letter to McConnell last week, saying: “The super-majority now required to advance legislation is 60 votes, which is not serving our country well.”

McConnell has firmly rejected calls to do away with the filibuster.

Senate Republicans have slammed Democrats for blocking a final vote on a resolution of disapproval for the Iran deal. But Alexander, an ally of McConnell, added on Monday that both parties have “used the filibuster too often.”

He added that while the Iran deal, as well as government funding bills, should be allowed to get an up-or-down vote, the only way to cut down on the procedural tactic is by “consent and restraint on the party of both political parties.”

The resolution of disapproval on the Iran deal isn’t the only thing Democrats have blocked from getting a final vote. Democrats also, for example, blocked a defense appropriations bill earlier this year, as well as a “clean” extension of expiring provisions in the Patriot Act.

Tags Hillary Clinton Lamar Alexander Mitch McConnell