Senate Republicans throw a fit as Senate Democrats steamroll them

| 3:00 pm EST December 2, 2023
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“I’ve said time and again there cannot be one set of rules for Republicans and a different set for Democrats.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin schooled Republicans with these words after they went wild on Thursday, accusing Durbin of breaking precedent and ignoring their input on two of President Joe Biden’s U.S. District Court nominees, Mustafa Kasubhai and Eumi Lee. This is because Durbin wasn’t doing any of that.

Sure, a Committee Rule exists that requires at least one minority member to vote with the majority to end debate on a matter. However, as Durbin pointed out, the past two Republican Committee Chairs set a precedent of violating this rule. First, Sen. Chuck Grassley violated it with nothing less important than a vote on a Supreme Court nominee (Brett Kavanaugh), and then Sen. Lindsay Graham violated it to bring a partisan immigration bill to a vote without any input from Democrats. (Grassley is currently a minority member while Graham is the ranking member, yet both were supposedly flabbergasted by Durbin’s actions.)

As Durbin further pointed out, he didn’t take this step until the third time the nominees came up at the hearing. Before that, Sen. John Kennedy spoke on Kasubhai a total of 12 minutes over two November hearings, Graham spoke on Kasubhai and Lee for about two minutes at one hearing, and Sen. Tom Cotton spoke on Kasubhai for about six minutes in another hearing, according to reporting from HuffPost. Durbin also offered Republicans a new opportunity to speak on Lee but “not a single one took him up on that offer.”

For good measure, Sen. Tom Cotton took a cheap swipe at Democrats while portraying himself as a champion of women’s rights and dignity. Although Sen. Marsha Blackburn was just one of the Republican senators wishing to speak, when she was denied, Cotton retorted, “Now, I guess Sen. Durbin is not going to allow women to speak, either. I thought that was sacrosanct in your party!”

Adding to the hyperbole, Sen. John Cornyn, seemingly enraged, scolded Durbin: “Mr. Chairman, you just destroyed one of the most important committees in the United States Senate.” He then accused Durbin of setting the very precedent that the GOP, through Grassley and then Graham, had firmly established. Sorry, Republicans, but shenanigans have consequences.