Senate Republicans are going nuclear
Leigh Ann Caldwell at Puck reports:
Thune’s “nuclear” option: Senate Republicans are set to overrule the parliamentarian—the authoritative, nonpartisan interpreter of the upper chamber’s rules. It’s an extremely rare action, which has both sides extremely defensive about it. For their part, Republicans tell me that this maneuver is both necessary and institutionally benign. Meanwhile, Democrats are lambasting it as a major breach of precedent. Naturally, both parties are exaggerating.
Both sides, dontcha know.
At issue is a California rule mandating that all new cars sold in the state be electric by 2035. The Biden administration approved the rule, which Republicans want to overturn because they are opposed to mandates, electric vehicles… and California (kidding! Kind of…). Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, advised Republicans that the Government Accountability Office determined that it’s not a federal rule, and thus not subject to congressional review. Rather than back off, Republicans have moved to overrule her.
Balls, sheer balls.
Doing this can create an opening to justify larger changes to Senate rules down the road, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the electric-car mandate a “novel and narrow issue,” and said overturning it wouldn’t set a precedent or make any difference to Senate rules. On the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called out Republicans for “going nuclear to appease the fossil fuel industry, and at the same time erode away the institution they profess to care about.”
He’s right. But that’s not really the point. We know they’re hostage to the oil companies. This is about making overruling the parliamentarian routine and you can bet they’ll do whenever they need to from now on. They no longer believe in rules. Why would they stop at this?
Privately, some Republicans didn’t necessarily disagree, and they’ve struggled over what to do in closed-door meetings. Former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been an outspoken opponent of efforts to change Senate rules of late (except, of course, when he changed them to more easily confirm Supreme Court judges), spoke in support of overturning the rule, which changed the tenor of the conversation for his party.
Of course McConnell spoke in favor of it. He’s the biggest rule breaker of all. Look at the Supreme Court.
Here the reporter gets a little bit cute:
The fact that Democrats are crying foul, however, is pure hypocrisy. After all, they tried to get rid of the filibuster in the last Congress, and would have been successful had Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema not broken ranks. Schumer himself was promising to revisit the issue on the campaign trail last year, vowing to eliminate the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation if Democrats won the Senate, House, and White House.
These are not the same thing. Getting rid of the filibuster is one rule that obstructs the Senate and the Republicans will get rid of it the first time they need to. Overruling the parliamentarian is a free for all.
I guess the Republicans assume they will have the Senate majority for the foreseeable future and they’re probably right. Dislodging Republicans in red states is probably going to be impossible. They just won’t certify the elections if Democrats win. So the rules are no longer operative unless they want them to be. That’s how they roll.