When Democrats held the power in the Senate, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) was all about ending the filibuster.
That was then, and this is now, however, and we all know how it works when the shoe is on the other foot.
One would think that, given his previous stance, Raskin would support Donald Trump’s request to eliminate the filibuster, but he just blatantly flipped his position.
As Republicans used the filibuster to derail the Democrats' Jan. 6 investigations, Raskin went ballistic and wanted to see it nuked.
At the time, he stated, “Using the filibuster to cover up the truth about Jan. 6 is a scandalous abuse of power that should bring the filibuster to an immediate and long overdue end. Until that happens, we will now have to move forward without the Senate to figure out how to create the nonpartisan, objective investigation into the events and causes of Jan. 6 that America deserves.”
He continued, “It’s shocking that the GOP has now extended the territory of the Big Lie to cover Jan. 6, too. They obviously can’t handle the truth.”
This is the game that both sides play, however, and Raskin just proved it.
With the way things are going right now, Trump surely knows he is on the clock to get legislation passed as quickly as possible, so he wants the filibuster nuked.
He stated, “It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that’s terminate the filibuster.”
Trump continued, “It’s the only way you can do it. And if you don’t terminate the filibuster, you’ll be in bad shape. We won’t pass any legislation.”
The GOP, however, does not have the numbers, as there are more than enough “no” votes on this matter to block such a measure from passing. Keep in mind, virtually every Democrat in the Senate wanted to end the procedural rule before the GOP took control.
CNN’s Dana Bash put Raskin on the spot, noting that he supported eliminating the filibuster when Joe Biden was in office, so it would only make sense that he would support it now.
Raskin responded, "Look, we don’t need a procedural fix at this point. We need the Republicans to recognize that there’s a healthcare crisis they’ve imposed on the country. Millions of people are facing the loss of their health insurance because of the skyrocketing premiums under Trump and the end of the ACA tax credits."
He continued, "We need to restore those credits, and we need to restore millions of people to Medicaid that were thrown off when they passed a trillion-dollar cut to healthcare in America, while they gave a trillion-dollar tax break to the wealthiest people. That’s why we’re seeing a clean Democratic sweep across America."
Dash pushed him on the subject, asking for a firm yes or no answer, to which he responded, "You know, I’m not in the Senate, so I’ve got no say in that, right?" Funny, that was not his response when Biden was in the White House. This is why you cannot trust a politician and why we need sweeping changes in Congress. They are all snakes who change their stance depending upon which way the winds of power are blowing that particular day.
