Sen. Rand Paul is threatening a long and painful road if Democrats attempt to weaken the filibuster early next month via a rarely used process that allows the majority to change the rules with 51 votes.
In a Politico op-ed Friday, the Kentucky Republican vows to offer up a series of other rule changes in such a scenario, and force Democrats to vote them down.
“Today, I caution the majority leader that I will not simply stand by and witness his destruction of the rights of senators, nor his power grab through clear breaking of Senate rules and precedents. I will fight back,” he writes.
Among my many proposed rule changes are:
• Each year’s budget must be balanced.
• A point of order demanding enumerated constitutional authority for any piece of legislation.
• A point of order protecting each one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights. Any senator could, at any time and as a privileged motion, assert that a bill violated one of the first 10 amendments.
• A waiting period of 20 days for each page of legislation.
• A sunset provision on all major new legislation.
