The day after voters handed Donald Trump the presidency in addition to Republican majorities in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said the Senate should do away with the filibuster.
In an interview with WTMJ’s Charlie Sykes surfaced by CNN, Walker said he was excited for Trump’s presidency but worried about Democratic obstructionism.
“My biggest concern is that they not allow some of these arcane rules that have nothing to with the Constitution,” he said.
“So you want to see them eliminate the 60-vote filibuster rule?” Sykes asked.
“Yeah, I’ve said it last year,” Walker responded. “To me, I think that would really upset the electorate of the people who not only elected Donald Trump and Mike Pence but the people who elected Ron here and elected other members of the House and the Senate.”
“You cannot use, they cannot use inside-the-ballpark Washington procedural reason to justify why things don’t happen. They’ve got to get things done and as I said frequently here in this state and continue to, the best time to do them is early,” Walker continued.
Support for the filibuster, which allows the minority party in the Senate to obstruct the legislative process unless cloture is invoked by typically 60 senators, has often switched with control of the upper chamber.
Democrats limited Republicans’ access to the maneuver in 2013 by pushing for a vote, which ultimately succeeded 52-48, to end filibusters of certain executive and judicial nominees.
