WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the Senate floor about the Democrats’ latest power grab to change the filibuster rules in the Senate.

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

Excerpts from Senator Barrasso’s remarks:

“I come to join my distinguished colleague from Arkansas as I agree with everything he said about this latest power grab by the Democrats in the United States Senate.

“Their effort to change the rules, to rig the rules, to force through an agenda, which I see, as do so many Americans, which is radical, extreme, dangerous, and scary.

“What the Democrats are proposing right here is that they muzzle the voice of half of the country. So why are they doing this?

“Well, it really has nothing to do with the priorities of the folks from my home state of Wyoming or the previous speaker’s home state of Arkansas or the next speaker from West Virginia.

“Oh, no, it has nothing to do with that. Has nothing to do with the priorities that the Gallup Poll tells us are the concerns all around America:

“Coronavirus and the crisis we face there. The crisis at the southern border, where we are looking at almost 2 million illegal immigrants coming into the United States. Crimes in the cities with murders up year after year, just amazingly up this year.

“And then, of course, the raging fires of inflation, cutting into people’s paychecks so that the money doesn’t go as far.

“When families in home states are looking at the fact that they’re going to be paying about $3,500 more next year than last, and the year before that, just to keep up, to maintain the quality of living, they got a lot of concerns.

“And what the Democrats are trying to do isn’t even one of them. Because the Democrats are trying to take a federal takeover of elections.

“That’s what they’re trying to pass. They want to cram through a bill that they know otherwise would not pass. So what’s in the bill?

“Well, Democrats want to do things like ban voter identification. In my home state of Wyoming, I know in the previous speaker’s state of Arkansas and the soon-to-be speaker from West Virginia, we know that people believe if you want to get a ballot, when you want to vote, you should have to prove you are who you say you are.

“In the home states of the presiding officer, the former presiding officer, many states, you want to go to a restaurant, you have to show your papers to prove you were vaccinated, to go into a building, to go to a sporting event.

“And yet, the Democrats are proposing that you shouldn’t have to show anything to prove you even are who you say you are in order to vote.

“One of the incumbents who want to vote for this say, ‘oh, did we mention that there are taxpayer dollars going to incumbent Members of Congress to pay for their political campaigns?’

“No wonder so many of the Democrats have voted for this. Money into their own pockets.

“Democrats want Washington, D.C. to micromanage elections across the country. They want to rig the rules of the Senate so they can impact and enact this unpopular bill to take over elections in America.

“American people aren’t asking for this. This recent Gallup Poll that I alluded to asked people what they thought was the most important issue facing the country.

“Voting laws didn’t even crack the top 20. In a list of 23, it came in as 23rd. It is the Democrats’ number one priority, and it is the last priority of the American public.

“It wasn’t even an asterisk. It didn’t even get 1% of the vote. If Democrats take over the Senate to take over elections and break the rules of the Senate, there will be no stopping them from passing the rest of this dangerous and extreme agenda.

“Democrats know that there’s an election coming in November. They can read the polls. They know it’s not looking good for them.

“They know there is a very unpopular president in the White House. They know their numbers are sinking, their ship is sinking, and they will soon be in the minority in both the House and the Senate.

“Frankly, the election for the Democrats and the election after that doesn’t look so good either, because it only took one year for people all across the country to recognize that the current president of the United States, Joe Biden, is both overwhelmed and ineffective as President of the United States. There is no denying that.

“Changing the rules, as the Democrats are proposing to do, really is their last chance to pass their left wing fringe ideas.

“It’s a last chance to pack the Supreme Court. Democrats in this body introduced legislation to pack the Supreme Court, add four Democrats to the court.

“Last chance to add new states to the union. Last chance to give amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Last chance before Democrats lose control of the Congress.

“So why do they want to change the rules? It’s because their agenda is so unpopular with the American people.

“I understand one Democrat said to another, we got to do it now because it’s our last chance to force socialism on the American people whether they want it or not.

“Instead of changing the rules, Democrats should change their agenda.

“Democrats should focus on what the American people say is important to them.

“It is our constituents that determine what’s important to them. They are to communicate it to us. We are to represent them.

“What’s important to them? Well, it’s getting ahead of the coronavirus. It’s securing the border. And it’s really to stop adding fuel to the fire of inflation, when paychecks can’t keep up with the cost of gas and groceries.

“Wall Street Journal story yesterday about all the Democrats that signed a letter saying money from New England, members of this body, who said energy costs are so high the government should do something about it.

“This is after Joe Biden kills the Keystone XL pipeline, stops gas and oil exploration, and their own home states are blocking pipelines, which could carry inexpensive energy to the people that live there.

“Yet, the Democrats want the government to do more.

“The government has done enough damage already.

“There are lots of ideas that could pass the Senate and the House and be signed into law that would actually help the American people.

“Those are the things the American people are asking for.

“The American people are not asking for a blatant Democrat power grab to force through a very liberal agenda.

“People don’t want to be muzzled. They don’t want to have their voices silenced. They want real solutions.

“They don’t want the Democrats’ radical agenda.”

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