McConnell rejects Democrats' 'radical movement' to abolish filibuster

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is pushing back against the emerging push to abolish the filibuster, saying that Democrats should consider retooling their "half-baked proposals" if they're frustrated by long-standing Senate tradition.

"A Democratic assault on the legislative filibuster would make the nomination fights look like child’s play," McConnell wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Thursday about the rule that requires 60 votes for the Senate to end debate on a bill.

"That’s because systematically filibustering nominees was not an old tradition but a modern phenomenon, pioneered in 2003 by Democrats who opposed President George W. Bush. When Republicans followed suit and held up a handful of Obama nominees the same way, Democrats could not stomach their own medicine and began a 'nuclear' exchange that Republicans had to end," he added.

The op-ed comes as Democrats, including some 2020 presidential candidates, express an openness to eliminating the filibuster if they gain a majority in the Senate. Many have asserted that the rule has thwarted the party from voting on legislation addressing America's most pressing issues, such as climate change and gun control.

McConnell dismissed those arguments, saying in a lengthy critique that the filibuster is part of a tradition in the upper chamber that values deliberation over efficiency.

"The legislative filibuster is directly downstream from our founding tradition," he wrote, before arguing that "my Republican colleagues and I have not and will not vandalize this core tradition for short-term gain."

McConnell opened his op-ed by noting that he warned former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) against eliminating the filibuster for most presidential appointees in 2013.