RNC Research Aims to Put 'Democrats' Filibuster Hypocrisy' on Blast

The Republican National Committee Research group put out a seven-page memo and a video compilation Monday of what it called "Democrats' filibuster hypocrisy."

"They want to make this country into a banana republic, where if you don't get your way, you change the rules," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in the video, taking a clip from his fiery rebuke of removing the filibuster to pass a partisan agenda in the Senate.

The memo and video shows myriad instances where Democrats have denounced the removal of the Senate filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to pass legislation on the eve of President Joe Biden's planned speech to call for the Senate to pass voting laws that Republicans say will "federalize" and "rig" future elections.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested last week that Biden will "support" the removal of the Senate's longstanding filibuster rule as 48 Democrats and two independents are struggling to pass legislation against the unwilling 50 Senate Republicans.

"As Biden's signature 'Build Back Broke' legislation sputters in the Senate, far-left Democrats are pivoting to an attempt to upend Senate rules by eliminating the filibuster to eviscerate election integrity, part of a desperate “attempt to pass literally anything,'" the RNC Research memo read.

"Democrats' attempt to eliminate the filibuster has nothing to do with 'voting rights,'" the memo continued. "As their own past statements show, Democrats want to change the rules because they don't have the votes to pass their radical legislation."

Schumer himself gave Republicans a Jan. 17 deadline to get on board with Democrats to pass their voting reforms before he would bring a vote to remove the filibuster in the Senate before the 2022 midterm elections.

"In March 2005, Schumer claimed that it would be a 'doomsday for democracy' if the Senate changed its rules on the filibuster and continued that he would 'stand in [the] way' of those who want to eliminate the filibuster," the memo added, pointing to the above Schumer speech.

Among the other key Democrat figures exposed by the RNC as once denouncing the elimination of the filibuster to block Republicans in the Senate:

President Joe Biden, who would sign any voting reform into law.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who would cast the tiebreaking vote in the Senate if all 48 Democrats and two independents that caucus with them rose up against the 50 Republican senators.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., an avowed moderate who had spoke out against the massive spending in Biden's Build Back Better Act.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, one of the two independents.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, the other independent in the Senate.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the other moderate senator who single handedly sunk Build Back Better in December, saying he would not bend on voting with Democrats on around $2 trillion in spending on social programs.

"More than three dozen Senate Democrats previously warned against eliminating the filibuster," the RNC memo reported. "Dozens of Senate Democrats have repeatedly defended the filibuster and demanded that a 60-vote threshold be preserved."

Among those exposed for their past remarks:

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
Sen. John Tester, D-Mont.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

The list of Democrat senators who the RNC Research group have not yet called publicly to protect the filibuster is a very select group, among them are the newest senators like:

Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-Nev.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
Sen. Jon Ossof, D-Ga.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.

Notably, on that exclusive list, Masto, Warnock, and Kelly are among CNN's most vulnerable Senate Democrats facing a tough reelection campaign in 2022. Hassan is the lone vulnerable Senate Democrat who was called out by the RNC Research group for having defended keeping the filibuster intact.