In a Sunday appearance on “Meet the Press” with anchor Chuck Todd, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) expressed regret over her 2013 vote in favor of senatorial filibuster rule changes.
With Senate Judiciary Committee hearings just completed for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, the Democrats are still scrambling to delay his nomination, but their own 2013 actions are holding them back.
Facing an onslaught of Republican filibusters on President Barack Obama’s 2013 judicial nominees, the Democrats exercised the so-called “nuclear option” by voting to eliminate the 60-vote threshold required for approving presidential nominations, replacing it with a majority vote. To change the rules, the Democrats just needed 51 votes, which they had, and thereby eliminated any further threats of a Republican filibuster.
Both Klobuchar and former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) voted to approve the rule change, though Klobuchar is now regretting the precedent her vote set.
“You would probably have the ability to get all of these papers public if there was a threat that they needed 60 votes. Let me ask you this: if Democrats get control of the Senate back, should the principle be that the filibuster should come back for Supreme Court nominees,” Todd asked Klobuchar Sunday night.
“I think that we should’ve had the filibuster in place, and by the way, that sounds like a really scary word to normal people out there, but it’s the idea that you have to have consensus,” Klobuchar responded, noting that the 2013 rule change was a last resort. “I would’ve like to see 60 votes no matter what the judge is. I don’t think we should’ve made that change.”
“I would prefer to bring it back,” she concluded, adding that the 60-vote requirement was still in place for Supreme Court nominations after the 2013 rule change, but was eliminated by Republicans during the nomination process for Neil Gorsuch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ9rBiD-q88
Klobuchar is running against Republican Jim Newberger in her campaign for reelection.
A member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Klobuchar joined her Democratic colleagues on that committee in their obstructionist tactics during the three days in which Judge Kavanaugh testified before the committee this week.
Kavanaugh is expected to sail through the committee on a straight party line vote, setting up a confirmation vote before the full Senate.
Both Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) have said they will vote against confirming Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
