Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Don’t Destroy the Senate, Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris has shown us repeatedly that she’s willing to abandon her alleged principles to make her radical agenda more appealing to the American people. It’s misleading and dishonest. Recently, she shared that the latest principle she’s willing to abandon is the U.S. Senate filibuster. By doing so, she would be burning down an American institution to force her radical policies through Congress. It’s a slap in the face to tens of millions of common-sense Americans who will vote for their U.S. Senators. I’m going to fight her efforts with everything I have.

In 2017, then-Senator Kamala Harris signed a letter defending a 60% threshold to end debate on most legislation. She argued that this long-standing filibuster rule was necessary to protect the voice of the minority in our government. It was a part of the Senate’s “existing rules, practice and traditions” because it facilitates deliberation. Conveniently, Democrats were the minority party then. Now, with Democrats in the majority, she has suddenly changed her mind. Harris now supports abolishing the filibuster to pass sweeping abortion legislation. Americans should see this for the shameless power grab that it is. Abortion until the moment of birth is just the beginning of what Harris and the other radicals hope to accomplish.

The Senate was created to be the “cooling saucer” where ideas are debated thoughtfully and consensus is built. The filibuster is a critical tool to facilitate that. It forces both parties to work together and compromise. It ensures that any major law must have broad, bipartisan support. It’s prevents one party from ramming through extreme policies. It ensures the Senate has to consider the views of a broad cross-section of Americans.

Nebraskans uniquely understand the benefits of the Senate’s 60% threshold. The Nebraska Legislature requires 67% of Senators to overcome a filibuster for many of the same reasons. That makes for more durable laws in the long-term.

But now, Vice President Harris is willing to set all that on fire. Why? Because she and her radical allies in Congress want to ram through an agenda that is out of step with most Americans. The principles haven’t changed, but her access to power has.

Harris’ push to destroy the filibuster isn’t just about abortion – it’s about changing the very nature of our government. Ending the filibuster for one bill will inevitably mean ending it for all bills. The results would be devastating for our country.

First, Democrats would grant statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. and add four new Democrat Senators. These new Senators would be reliable votes for the rest of Democrats’ radical ideas. Every liberal activist group would have a seat at the table.

Next, Democrats would pass a national takeover of elections and ban Voter ID nationwide. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently said he would destroy the filibuster to do this. It doesn’t matter that Nebraskans voted overwhelmingly in favor of Voter ID in 2022. D.C. Democrats will simply override the expressed will of our state.

And it wouldn’t stop there. Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse would get his wish to pack the Supreme Court. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders would get his Green New Deal filled with trillions of dollars of reckless spending and delusional mandates. Democrats would grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, potentially putting them on a pathway to vote in our elections. A partisan majority could do all this and more if the filibuster is destroyed.

Destroying the filibuster is destroying the U.S. Senate as we know it. If Harris is successful, our already-divided Senate would be more partisan and more divided. We will have less deliberation and more exercises of raw power. Our nation would pinball from one major policy change to another when the next party takes over. That’s the wrong path to take. It’s bad for the American people. It’s bad for our national security. It would be devastating for our economy and the millions of small businesses that are already struggling under endless mandates and regulations.

The stakes are high. We can’t allow Kamala Harris’ assault on our institutions to succeed.