McConnell vows ‘scorched earth’ if Senate ends filibuster – By Lisa Mascaro (Associated Press) / Mar 17 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell warned ominously of a “scorched earth” landscape if Democrats use their new majority to bring an end to the Senate filibuster in hopes of muscling legislation supporting President Joe Biden’s agenda past GOP opposition.
© Provided by Associated Press Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 16, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Pool via AP)
McConnell unleashed the dire forecast of a Senate that would all but cease to function, implying that Republicans would grind business to a halt by refusing to give consent for routine operations — from the start time for sessions, to the reading of long legislative texts, to quorum call votes.
“Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues: Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin — can even begin to imagine — what a completely scorched earth Senate would look like,” McConnell said Tuesday in a Senate speech.
McConnell said the partisan gridlock of the Trump and Obama eras would look like “child’s play” compared to what’s to come.
