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WTH Is the Byrd Rule? Martin Gold on the Back Door That Could Let Democrats Circumvent the Filibuster

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WTH Is the Byrd Rule? Martin Gold on the Back Door That Could Let Democrats Circumvent the Filibuster WTH is the Byrd Rule? Martin Gold on the back door that could let Democrats circumvent the filibuster Episode #88 | February 4, 2021 | Danielle Pletka, Marc Thiessen, and Martin Gold Danielle Pletka: Hi, I'm Danielle Pletka. Marc Thiessen: And I'm Marc Thiessen. Danielle Pletka: Welcome to our podcast, What the Hell is Going On? Marc, what the hell is going on this week? Marc Thiessen: Well, we're talking about what the hell is the Byrd Rule? Because most Americans have no idea what the Byrd Rule is, but I think it's not an exaggeration to say that the fate of our democracy hangs in the balance of whether the Democrats go ahead and get rid of the Byrd Rule or not. Marc Thiessen: We did a great episode last fall, and if you haven't had a chance to look at it, I urge you all to go back and listen to the episode we did with Marty Gold, who is probably the person in Washington who understands the intricacies of Senate procedure better than anyone. So, we have asked Marty back on, and he's going to explain this all to you in a much better way than Dany and I could. Marc Thiessen: But the short version is that the Democrats have threatened to get rid of the filibuster, which is the requirement that you need at least 60 votes to cut off debate and move forward on legislation. And this is what protects the rights of the minority to block legislation or to slow it down in order to change it. It's a fundamental part of our system. It's an institutional guardrail that prevents us from having a tyranny of the majority. So many Democrats want to get rid of it. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have said, under no circumstances will they vote to get rid of the filibuster. So, everyone says problem solved. Well, no, because people who understand Senate procedure know there are back doors to all of these things, and one of the back doors is the Byrd Rule. Marc Thiessen: There's a process called budget reconciliation, which Joe Biden wants to use to pass his COVID relief plan that only requires 50 votes, a simple majority of the Senate, to pass. There is something called the Byrd Rule, which prevents senators from using that exception to the filibuster as a vehicle to ram through all sorts of stuff that has nothing to do with the budget. There are moves afoot to get rid of the Byrd Rule, as a backdoor way of eliminating the filibuster. Marc Thiessen: This is all a lot of inside baseball that may make people's eyes glaze over, but 2 literally, if they get rid of the Byrd Rule, then all the things that we're worried about if the filibuster is eliminated: DC statehood, packing the Supreme Court, passing legislation without any compromise or need to talk to the minority or moderate your policies on climate, on energy, on taxes, on spending. It's just a different legislative flood gate. Danielle Pletka: So, Marc, that's exactly right. For a lot of people, the arcana of how the Senate works is not especially exciting. So, let me try and describe something in Washington that's very important. Right now, we have the Democrats in charge of the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Okay, that's a choice of the voters and that's fine. We have to live with that. The Republicans got punished, and many would say they were asking for it. Danielle Pletka: But one of the things that Joe Biden and the Democratic leadership of the House and Senate have all said is, "Well, we're not going to upend the rules of the road about how stuff gets done, unless the Republicans are truly obstructionist." I think that's a great line for them because they're basically coming out of the box very moderate. Danielle Pletka: Here's the problem. Ten senators, and a very substantial number of members of the House, have gone to the White House and said, "Hey, we want to work with you." So that means that more than 20% of the Republican caucus in the Senate has gone to the White House to say We want to work with you nd the White House has basically turned around and said, "We don't really like the way you want to work with us. We prefer to just ram things through, and we know how we're going to do it." What we're really facing up to in Washington is that there is a false narrative about the fact that Republicans want to obstruct everything the Democrats wanted to do. The way our government is supposed to work is negotiation and compromise, and those days are very close to being over. Marc Thiessen: Well, what's wrong with that also is that what if the Republicans want to obstruct some things that the Democrats want to do? So what? That's their right? When Donald Trump was president and the Democrats were the minority in the Senate, they filibustered the border wall. They twice filibustered the CARES Act, forcing Republicans to make changes to the bill that they wanted. They filibustered on two separate occasions, follow-up coronavirus relief acts because they didn't want Republicans to pass those before the November election and get credit for it. Marc Thiessen: They filibustered Tim Scott's police reform, and we had him on to talk about that. They blocked legislation to force sanctuary cities to cooperate with federal officials. They filibustered almost every effort that Republicans made to put even the smallest restrictions on abortion. Those are just the bills that they actually filibustered. More often than not, people don't even bring up the bill because they don't have 60 votes, and so it never comes up. So, all of a sudden, we can't let Republicans obstruct? Danielle Pletka: First of all, I think it's important that people understand that that list that you just put out is a list of accomplishments for the Democrats based on the system that we have. So, they loved it, right? It worked great for them and for a lot of Americans who have more nuanced views and don't represent the extremes of AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE | 1789 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20036 | 202.862.5800 | aei.org 3 their parties, that's a good thing. They liked the fact that the Democrats were able to stop the Republicans from doing certain things. I believe that a lot of Democrats would like to see the same thing happen now. Marc Thiessen: But here's the point, Dany, take that list of things that Democrats want to block, and imagine that in a few , Republicans control the White House, the House, and the Senate again, and there's no filibuster, or there's no ability of the minority to block it. Guess what? All of those things are going to be enacted into law. They won't have the ability. Marc Thiessen: People said Donald Trump was such a threat to the Republic. Well, no, because the Democratic minority was able to filibuster him and block him from doing some of the things that they thought were the worst excesses of Trumpism. Well, guess what? If you blow up those rules now that you're in power, guess what's going to happen? Do you really want to have no institutional guardrails? Marc Thiessen: This is what drives me crazy about what's happening in Washington today. The absolute utter lack of respect for the institutions that have kept our countries centrist and stable. What drove me crazy about the Capitol assault, and you and I both worked in the United States Senate, we have a reverence for that institution, to see people rampaging through the Senate floor and going through those desks, it offended our sensibilities because we have a reverence for that. Marc Thiessen: This is basically the equivalent being done to the institutional guardrails of our democracy. There are institutions that have been built up through the wisdom of collective generations to say, "No, we're not going to have a tyranny of the majority. The minority is going to have some rights in this country," and understanding that what comes around goes around. There are no permanent victories in politics, and someday it's going to come back to you. We're cutting at the legs of the stool of our democracy, and it's going to collapse at some point if we don't protect them. That's no matter what your political ideology is. We should all have reverence for these institutions because they are what keep Republicans from going too far, if you're a liberal. And they're what keep the liberals from going too far, if you're a conservative. Danielle Pletka: The key here, I think, is that it's imperative that people understand what's going on. Because without that understanding, people aren't going to oppose it. People aren't going to reach out to the Joe Manchins and Kyrsten Sinemas of the world and say, "Don't let this happen," unless people understand what it is. And we are lucky enough to have someone who can, far better than Marc and me, lay out exactly what these rules are that are currently right next to the shredder.
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