Mitch McConnell guarantees 'nightmare' if Senate Democrats ax the filibuster

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday once again warned against getting rid of the legislative filibuster — a 60-vote threshold senators must meet to advance bills — promising a "nightmare" if Senate Democrats do.

For the foreseeable future, at least, it looks like the legislative filibuster is safe. U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom are moderate Democrats, have said they will not support eliminating it.

"I'm glad we've stepped back from this cliff. Taking that plunge would not be some progressive dream. It would be a nightmare," McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. "I guarantee it."

The Senate is split 50-50 between the Democratic and Republican parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaker that put Democrats in control and demoted McConnell to minority leader last week.

More:Sen. Mitch McConnell is getting a demotion: Here's what it means for Kentucky

The legislative filibuster can and has been used by both parties when they were in the minority to torpedo proposals the majority party supported. However, some liberals have pushed for the filibuster to be eliminated now that Democrats are in control, which would allow legislation to get through the Senate with just 51 votes.

Many Democrats have argued their party's senators must ax the filibuster to ensure they're able to pass priority legislation without Republican support, especially in light of McConnell's reputation as a master of obstruction.

McConnell warned Tuesday, as he has for months, that getting rid of the filibuster would fundamentally change the way the Senate operates for years to come.

"If the Democratic majority were to attack the filibuster, they would guarantee themselves immediate chaos," he said. "If this majority went scorched-earth, this body would grind to a halt like we’ve never seen."

He predicted the Senate would become a battlefield, with senators taking advantage of other existing rules to gum up the works by objecting to even the most basic functions of the congressional chamber.

"None of us on either side want to live in a scorched-earth Senate," he said. "But there’s no doubt — none — that’s what we’d see if Democrats tear up this pivotal rule."

He also warned Republicans would roll back whatever laws the Democrats passed in a filibuster-less Senate once they're in control again and pass their own priorities into law without bipartisan support.

"When Republicans next control the government, we’d be able to repeal every bill that had just been rammed through," he said. "But a few years later, Democrats would try to flip it all back. So instead of building stable consensus, we’d be chaotically swapping party platforms."

McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York have been negotiating over a power-sharing agreement for the chamber, but Kentucky's longtime senator initially pushed for an explicit reassurance the Democrats would preserve the filibuster.

Schumer refused, and McConnell settled this week instead for Sinema and Manchin's insistence they wouldn't support any attempts to do away with that controversial rule.

"I am glad the Republican leader finally relented and we can move forward now to organize the Senate, set up committees ... and a process for moving bills and nominees to the floor from committees with an evenly divided number of members," Schumer said Tuesday.

"I'm glad we're finally able to get the Senate up and running. My only regret is that it took so long, because we have a great deal we need to accomplish over the next several weeks and months."

Judicial filibusters already were rolled back by both Democrats and Republicans, including McConnell, in recent years when each party controlled the Senate.

More:Fact check: Republicans, not Democrats, eliminated the Senate filibuster on Supreme Court nominees