Harry Reid Says He Has No Regrets About Eliminating Filibuster: Obama ‘Was Trapped’

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a Thursday interview he has no regrets about eliminating the Senate filibuster, saying it allowed Democrats to confirm President Barack Obama’s Cabinet officials and to pass landmark legislation including the Affordable Care Act.

“Absolutely not,” Reid said in response to a question from CNN’s Chris Cuomo about whether he regretted the move. “Obama had been elected president, and they [the Republicans] set out to do two things. Number one, he would not be reelected. And number two, anything Obama tried to do, they opposed.”

Senate Democrats under Reid’s leadership voted to use the “nuclear option” in 2013, eliminating the filibuster for executive branch nominees and federal judicial nominees. In 2017, Senate Republicans led by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) extended that policy to Supreme Court nominees in order to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch.

The wisdom of ending the filibuster has been under scrutiny in the wake of Supreme Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on September 18. Republicans are expected to fill the vacancy with about 51 to 52 votes, something that wouldn’t be possible if they required to meet the 60-vote threshold for ending a filibuster.

Reid cited the fact that Senate Republicans filibustered Obama’s judicial nominee and briefly filibustered his pick for Defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), saying, “Obama was in a position where he was trapped, and as a result of what we did — I did — we changed the rules to say this isn’t going to happen anymore. And as as a result of that, we were able to get all of his Cabinet officers filed, sub-Cabinet officers filled, D.C. Circuit [Court] — we got that taken care of.

“And in the process, we got the Affordable Care Act passed, and the most substantial change in Wall Street in the history of the country, the Dodd-Frank bill,” he added. “So that’s why we did it, and I have no regret. It was the right thing to do.”

Watch above via CNN.