Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued to get rid of the filibuster in a rare moment of agreement between the left-wing Congresswoman and President Donald Trump.
Ocasio-Cortez was speaking to former Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod regarding the parliamentary procedure that requires 60 votes in the Senate to pass legislation.
Trump has repeatedly said Republicans should ‘nuke it’ to pass laws like his proposed ‘SAVE America Act.’
Ocasio-Cortez’s argument is that members of the Senate should be forced to own their votes on legislation that doesn’t have broad appeal.
‘When you have to meet a 60 vote threshold, you’re not really responsible for any consequential decisions,’ she said.
Her challenge was mainly directed at moderate Republican Senators like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
‘Let Lisa Murkowski take that vote on The Save Act. Let Susan Collins take that vote on it. I dare you. Call the question. Let these senators assume personal responsibility for their own decisions instead of hiding behind this amorphous lack of responsibility for anything. That’s what the filibuster represents,’ Ocasio-Cortez added.
She also referred to it as part of a legacy of racism and the Jim Crow south in the United States.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued to get rid of the filibuster in a rare moment of agreement between the left-wing Congresswoman and President Donald Trump
Trump has repeatedly said Republicans should ‘nuke it’ to pass laws like his proposed ‘SAVE America Act’
‘I do not appreciate the wholesale fictionalization of American history—the idea that the filibuster is a grand compromise intentionally put in our system. It was created by a clerical error and Jim Crow segregationists realized they could use this error as a loophole delaying the enfranchisement of black Americans for decades,’ she said.
Reaction was surprised and often angry across the spectrum at Ocasio-Cortez’s statement.
‘God is this lady dumb as a box of rocks,’ wrote Liz Mair.
‘I like AOC but pushing to get rid of the filibuster when the rival party controls the Senate is just asking for trouble,’ added Patrick Goldstein.
Another commenter, called it practical, however, writing: ‘I’m with AOC. Filibuster will be killed by one party or another soon enough anyway. Get on with it. Make the jerks in the Senate show themselves for what they are, on bot[h] sides.’
The legislation, officially called the Save America Voting Eligibility Act, would require proof of US citizenship to cast a ballot, a measure Trump has spent weeks demanding as essential to ‘protect American elections.’
Proof means supplying a passport, birth certificate, or REAL ID explicitly showing citizenship. Student IDs and utility bills don’t qualify.
Trump has insisted that the Senate version should go even further — calling for voter ID, proof of citizenship, strict limits on mail-in ballots, and even bans on transgender surgeries for minors and biological men competing in women’s sports.
The filibuster ‘makes the Senate the Senate,’ Majority Leader John Thune (pictured) has said, arguing that the votes are not there to change the rules
Ocasio-Cortez was speaking to former Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod regarding the parliamentary procedure that forces 60 votes in the Senate to pass legislation
That’s created a rift with House Republicans, who passed a ‘watered-down’ version last month that focused solely on election rules.
Trump has for years called to end the government shutdown by getting rid of the filibuster and lowering the threshold to 51 votes for legislation.
Democrats have been using the filibuster as leverage against passing various pieces of Republican legislation that can’t hit 60 votes.
Republicans currently hold a 53 – 47 majority in the Senate and a 219 – 213 majority in the House of Representatives.
Those who have opposed the measure argue that it would benefit Democrats the next time they take power, according to CNN.
The filibuster ‘makes the Senate the Senate,’ Majority Leader John Thune has said, arguing that the votes are not there to change the rules.
He and other Republicans stress that the filibuster has benefited their side when Democrats have power.
Trump was particularly frustrated with the filibuster during the Democrat-led government shutdown.
He claimed last October that during his meetings with world leaders in Asia ‘the one question that kept coming up… was how did the Democrats SHUT DOWN the United States of America and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it?’
The alleged query from world leaders apparently gave the president some pause.
‘The fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question, WHY?’ he said in a lengthy post on his Truth Social page Thursday night.
He then claimed that Democrats are ‘Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY’ since they’ve lost all power in Washington D.C.
‘It is a sick form of the now “legendary” Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) that only comes from losing too much,’ Trump wrote.
‘They want Trillions of Dollars to be taken from our Healthcare System and given to others who are not deserving – People who have come into our Country illegally, many from prisons and mental institutions,’ the president claimed.
‘That will hurt American citizens and Republicans will not let it happen.
‘It is now time for Republicans to play their “TRUMP CARD” and go for what is called the Nuclear Option – get rid of the filibuster and get rid of it NOW!’
