Sen. Lindsey Graham says he would "talk until I fell over" if the Senate's legislative filibuster ends and the traditional floor talking procedure returns, as President Joe Biden says he wants if that would stop the House voting reform resolution.
"If you go to the talking filibuster, we will take the floor to stop H.R. (House Resolution) 1," the South Carolina Republican said on Fox News' "Hannity" Wednesday night. "I would talk until I fell over to make sure that we don't go to ballot harvesting and voting by mail without voter ID."
Biden, during an interview that aired Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," said he's open to changing the filibuster rules to require that senators once again talk on the floor to hold up a bill.
The Senate filibuster allows for endless debate to stall legislation by keeping the chamber from voting on it. It was first codified in Senate rules in 1917. Before then, the Senate had no rules to end debate, and the chamber installed a 67-vote threshold to create one. That was reduced to 60 in 1975. Earlier in the 1970s, the Senate allowed for a filibuster debate to be set aside so that other legislation or business could be conducted.
Graham told Hannity that ending the legislative filibuster would be "transformational," but in a "really bad way."
"It would destroy the Senate as we know it," said Graham. "Anything big like this, you should be able to get a few votes from the other side, right? If you want to federalize the elections and do away with redistricting by the states and turn it over to some commission that will fundamentally change how you vote. If you want to go to ballot harvesting nationally and take authority away from the states, shouldn't that be at least somewhat bipartisan?"
He further warned that if Democrats pick up just one more Senate seat in the 2022 races, "they're going to abolish the filibuster and transform America."
He added that he spoke "a lot" with former President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday, and promised that Trump is "focused like a laser on making sure Republicans regain the Senate and the House to stop the most radical agenda in American history."
Trump said earlier this week that his decision to seek the presidency again in 2024 will hinge on whether Republicans gain control of the House and Senate in the 2022 races. Democrats hold a 219-211 edge in the House, with five vacant seats, and the Senate is split by 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris to cast tiebreaking votes.
"With a 50-50 Senate, you can't do anything without unanimous consent that matters, and to have a quorum, you've got to have 51 people present and the vice president doesn't count," Graham told Hannity. "So if they did this, we could really shut down the entire Senate because we just won't show up."
Meanwhile, Democrat Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona have spoken out against eliminating the filibuster. Graham said that won't matter if Democrats get full control of the Senate in 2022.
"If they had 52 Democrats, they would cut Joe Manchin out and they would change the rules of the Senate," said Graham. "You know, when we're in charge, they write me letters and want me to say I won't change the filibuster to protect the Senate. Now they're in charge and are willing to throw everything over. And at the end of the day, 2022 is the best hope for us to stop this crazy stuff."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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