“We know that the press and sometimes folks in Congress say that it’s hard to pass a law. It’s not supposed to be easy. It takes discussion. It takes negotiation. It brings people together.”

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke on the Senate floor about the Senate Democrats’ desire to get rid of the filibuster, which would destroy bipartisanship and hurt America.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“In the 2020 elections, Americans chose an evenly divided Senate: half Republicans half Democrats, evenly divided.

“Since the Vice President is able to break a tie, when it comes to specifically organizing the Senate, Democrats have the majority.

“Now some Democrats want to lower the threshold for all the votes so that, to pass anything, all they would need to do, in case of a tie vote, would be to have the Vice President be the tie breaker.

“That is the way that a majority works when there is a tie and the Vice President is of one party. They get to break the tie in that direction, of course.

“What we need to make sure of though is that there is fairness in the process.

“The traditions in how this institution works are that we have something called a filibuster. 60 votes is how legislation is passed.

“We know that the press and sometimes folks in Congress say that it’s hard to pass a law.

“It’s not supposed to be easy.

“It takes discussion.

“It takes negotiation.

“It brings people together.

“That’s the idea of needing 60 votes, to bring people together.

“To get a bipartisan consensus so that all voices are heard, the minority voice is heard. It forces us to find common ground.

“Frankly, I think, there’s too little of finding common ground in Washington already.

“The last thing America needs is even more divisiveness.

“This is a big, diverse country.

“We don’t need 50 percent of the country plus one to run roughshod over all the others.

“That’s why our Founders were so careful to protect the rights of the minority.

“That’s why they created the Bill of Rights.

“That’s why they created the Electoral College.

“That’s why they created the United States Senate.

“The Founding Fathers didn’t want the Senate to be a copy of the House.

“We’re intended to be a check on the House.

“There’s a story that President Washington compared the Senate to a saucer used to cool down a cup of tea. President Madison compared it to a fence.

“We’re not supposed to be a smaller version of the House of Representatives.

“The Senate is supposed to cool things down.

“We’re supposed to think things through.

“We’re supposed to stop bad ideas and stop the House from moving too fast.

“Changing the rules of the Senate would make that impossible.

“Lowering the bar to 50 votes would also be a blatant power grab.

“With just 50 votes and the Vice President, the Democrats could even add states to the union, specifically states that would elect more Democrats to the Senate.

“That would give them even more Senate seats.

“It could even give them a permanent majority in the Senate.

“With 50 votes plus the Vice President, Democrats could also pack the Supreme Court with liberal activist judges.

“Judges who legislate from the bench. Not judges who apply the law as written.

“That would give them a permanent majority both in the Senate and on the court.

“With a single rule change, one branch of government and one chamber of Congress could be under permanent Democrat control.

“It’s no surprise that’s tempting to Senate Democrats. The far-left branch of that party is demanding that this occur.

“When President Trump was in office, Republicans had a chance to do exactly the same thing.

“In fact, former President Trump repeatedly asked us and told us that we should do just that.

“In one particularly memorable example, he tweeted: ‘The U.S. Senate should switch to 51 votes…the Dems would do it, no doubt.’

“More than 30 different times, President Trump asked that Republicans end the filibuster.

“We didn’t. We stuck to the intentions of our Founding Fathers. We protected the rights of the minority. And we put country before party.

“If Democrats won’t stop the power grab for the good of the country, then they should at least do it for their own good.

“Democrats have only had 50 votes and the Vice President for a few days.

“Back when Democrats were in the minority, 33 Democrat senators said they didn’t want to change the rules.

“They signed a letter and that letter called for the preservation of the rights of the minority.

“27 of those Democrats are still members of the Senate, today. One of those Democrats is now the Vice President of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Even President Biden called the idea of eliminating the filibuster ‘a very dangerous move.’

“The White House press secretary told us last week that President Biden still opposes changing the rules.

“If Democrats go down this road and break the rules of the Senate, they’re doing more than just hurting the institution. They’re admitting that their ideas don’t have broad bipartisan support.

“Think about it.

“If the Democrats’ agenda had the support of the American people, then they wouldn’t need to change the rules.

“If Democrats could find bipartisan support to pass their tax increases, they’d leave the rules alone.

“If Democrats could find bipartisan support to pass the Green New Deal, and the higher energy costs that come with it, they’d leave the rules alone.

“If they could restrict gun ownership, they’d leave the rules alone. They can’t—and they know they can’t.

“They know the American people have looked at their progressive agenda and said, ‘No thank you.’

“President Biden’s Inaugural Address last week talked a lot about unity. He said that ‘with unity, we can do great things.’ And I agree.

“I ask my Democrat colleagues if they agree with the President’s Inaugural Address.

“Or do they really want to make the United States Senate more partisan and more divided?

“Do they really want to take power away from individual senators and give it to whomever has 50 votes and the tie breaker at the moment?

“If it’s hard for Democrats to pass laws, then maybe they should try talking to us.

“Propose bipartisan solutions to our nation’s challenges. Persuade your colleagues. Make progress together.

“As my friend former Senator Lamar Alexander said in his farewell address just a month ago, ‘We don’t need a change of rules. The Senate needs a change of behavior.’

“So I urge my Democrat colleagues to reject a blatant power grab.

“Stop this rush to take more and more power.

“Come to the center. Reach across the aisle. Find common ground.

“Senate Republicans are ready to work together to help the American people - to get people back to work, to get our kids safely back to school so they don’t fall further behind, and to get the coronavirus behind us.

“Join us. Let’s work together. Let’s do what’s right for the people that we serve.”

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