With Republicans now controlling all three branches of government, some have suggested that they should remove the filibuster in the Senate, which is the one lever that Democrats can currently use to make their voices heard.  However, more senior senators such as Orrin Hatch and Lindsey Graham have opposed such efforts, even as it would make their preferred legislation easier.

From Upworthy:

Sen. Orrin Hatch, the chamber’s longest-serving Republican, is standing up for … Senate Democrats. Hatch, who has served nearly 40 years in the Senate, knows a thing or two about the importance of minority powers as a form of checks and balances.

“Are you kidding?” Hatch responded to a question asked by The Huffington Post about ending the filibuster. “I’m one of the biggest advocates for the filibuster. It’s the only way to protect the minority, and we’ve been in the minority a lot more than we’ve been in the majority. It’s just a great, great protection for the minority.”

From the Huffington Post:

With Republicans in control of the House, the Senate and, come January, the White House, calls have come from some quarters of the Republican Party to eliminate the filibuster and ram through an unadulterated Trumpian agenda.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday thoroughly rejected that approach. “That’s a horrible, terrible idea,” he said after an off-camera briefing with reporters in the Capitol.

Asked if he’d vote against the effort if it came to the Senate floor, he said he would “in a heartbeat.”

Requiring Trump to work with Democrats, Graham added, gives him the chance to make the kinds of deals he wants to make. “There are deals to be made in this body ― big, huge deals,” he said.

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