Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has mysteriously changed his tune on eliminating the Senate filibuster shortly after President Donald Trump called on Republicans to end the procedure.
On Wednesday, the anti-Trump Democrat declined to say whether he supports eliminating the filibuster, despite previously being a vocal supporter of such efforts.
Raskin previously endorsed calls to end the filibuster during the Biden administration.
The congressman was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash about President Trump’s recent comments urging Republicans to end the filibuster.
He was also asked about the GOP’s losses in several races on Tuesday and the ongoing government shutdown.
“One of the things that he has been talking about for the last couple of days more intensely is getting rid of the filibuster,” Bash asked.
“That’s actually something that you wanted to do when Joe Biden was president.
“Things weren’t getting through the Senate.
“So is that an area where you agree with him?”
Raskin responded that procedural changes were not his focus.
“Look, we don’t need a procedural fix at this point,” he said.
“We need the Republicans to recognize that there’s a healthcare crisis they’ve imposed on the country.
“Millions of people are facing the loss of their health insurance because of the skyrocketing premiums under Trump and the end of the ACA tax credits.”
He added:
“We need to restore those credits, and we need to restore millions of people to Medicaid that were thrown off when they passed a trillion-dollar cut to healthcare in America, while they gave a trillion-dollar tax break to the wealthiest people.
“That’s why we’re seeing a clean Democratic sweep across America.”
Bash pressed him again:
“So you wanted the filibuster to be ended when Biden was president, but now no?”
Raskin replied:
“You know, I’m not in the Senate, so I’ve got no say in that, right?”
He said Republicans should “come to the table” to reopen the government and restore Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits nationwide.
Raskin previously supported ending the filibuster in 2021 after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent commission to “investigate” the events of Jan. 6.
Aat the time, Raskin told The Hill:
“Using the filibuster to cover up the truth about Jan. 6 is a scandalous abuse of power that should bring the filibuster to an immediate and long-overdue end.”
While Trump has recently called for Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, GOP senators have not signaled plans to use the “nuclear option.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said in an interview Tuesday that “there just simply aren’t the votes” to end the filibuster.
READ MORE – Democrats Scramble for Exit Strategy from Schumer’s Record-Breaking Shutdown
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