WASHINGTON, D.C.—On Tuesday, Senator Rick Scott released the below statement following a Dear Colleague letter Senator Chuck Schumer sent to Democrat Senators urging them to vote in favor of ending the filibuster rule. This announcement, which directly contradicts Senator Schumer’s 2017 position while Democrats held the minority, proves that, once again, Senator Schumer’s priority is not protecting democracy, as he claims, but rather increasing Democrat control through a self-serving power grab.
Senator Rick Scott said, “Chuck Schumer cares about one thing: preserving power for Chuck Schumer. The proof can be found in his own contradictory self-serving statements. This week, Senator Schumer wrote a letter to his Democrat Caucus members on why they must fundamentally and irreversibly alter the rules of the United States Senate and destroy the rights of the minority to pass their unpopular and disastrous bills to federalize elections. This is an interesting take given Senator Schumer’s previous position on the filibuster. In 2017, then-Minority Leader Schumer urged Leader McConnell to, ’find a way to build a firewall around the legislative filibuster, which is the most important distinction between the Senate and the House.’ He went on to say, ‘Without the 60-vote threshold for legislation, the Senate becomes a majoritarian institution like the House, much more subject to the winds of short-term electoral change. No Senator would like to see that happen, so let’s find a way to further protect the 60-vote rule for legislation.’ So the question we must ask ourselves is this: What changed, Chuck? The answer, of course, is he is now in the majority and wants to do as he pleases rather than respect the longstanding rights afforded to the minority party. Schumer is only interested in trashing the filibuster now because he fears he will lose power in the next election. That’s no way to lead.
“If the Democrats’ bill was good, it would pass. It’s not. The Democrats’ election takeover bill is an assault on American elections that will fuel fraud, waste billions of taxpayer dollars on funding political campaigns and attack ads and make it nearly impossible to oversee fair elections. Remember that fact the next time Chuck Schumer demands to change the same rules that he spent years fiercely defending when they protected his interests.”