The highest GOP candidates for Senate majority chief speak about how they may thwart a Harris agenda

The two top Republicans running for Senate majority leader if they win the Senate in the upcoming election spoke about how they would thwart a Kamala Harris agenda, including potential Supreme Court nominees.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota told CNN's Manu Raju that if Kamala Harris wins the presidency and Republicans take the Senate, there would be no abortion proposal that would get 60 votes in the Senate, and when asked if he could imagine one Harris Supreme Court nominee has yet to be confirmed, Thune said, it depends on who it is.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas separately told Raju that he would “not schedule a vote on any wild-eyed radical candidate that I know she would like to nominate.”

Regard:

NEW: “I will not call a vote on a wild-looking radical candidate who I know would like to nominate.” @mkraju's new reporting on how @SenJohnThune and @JohnCornyn could put obstacles in the way of a potential President Harris . https://t.co/5RHjVGkE12 #InsidePolitics pic.twitter.com/nIAPOb9IbR

— Inside Politics (@InsidePolitics) September 29, 2024

Raju asked: Would you submit a nationwide abortion ban to the Majority Leader?

Thune responded that there is *no* abortion proposal that would get 60 votes: I don't think there is any abortion proposal that would get 60 votes in the United States.

Raju: Could you imagine Harris' Supreme Court nomination being confirmed?

Thune: Well, I mean, obviously that probably depends on who that is, and that's the advantage of a Republican Senate.

Thune said he would not change a filibuster on any issue.

Another potential majority leader, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, also said he didn't think an abortion ban would get 60 votes and that he would absolutely keep the filibuster.

When asked by Raju whether he would agree to confirm a Harris Supreme Court nominee, Sen. Cornyn said, “I think that also depends on who the president nominates,” and that he “wouldn't schedule a vote on some of them.” .” radical, wild-eyed candidate who I know she would like to nominate.”

Harris is a former prosecutor and attorney general who has been endorsed by numerous former Republican officials and former Trump

Therefore, the idea that she would nominate a “wild-eyed radical” to the Supreme Court is ridiculous. Cornyn's comment would be best applied to the speech of an ordinary voter, as he would not schedule a vote on someone who would protect basic individual freedoms like abortion health care. It is strange that the Republican leadership sees basic freedoms as radical, but sees the abolition of long-established freedoms as conservative (this is not traditional conservatism).

Thune is pushing to support Republican Senate candidates.

Republicans have spent since 2009 obstructing a Democratic president to the point of driving the country over the fiscal cliff and shutting down the government if they failed to implement parts of their radical agenda.

In the Senate, they used that power to deny a vote to Merrick Garland, then-President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, who was respected by both sides. Garland would have been a perfect Supreme Court justice; He has the moderate temperament for it and the commitment to the rule of law and precedent, in contrast to the three justices Donald Trump put on the Court and, of course, in complete opposition to the rampant corruption of conservative Justice Clarence Thomas.

In this context, Cornyn and Thune responded to the question of the abortion ban by extending it to any abortion measure, a way of evading responsibility from their base for not committing to passing an abortion ban, but at the same time also suggesting that it There is no way to codify abortion protections if Republicans win the Senate.

The majority of Americans want to see roe protections restored. Women are dying because of Republican abortion bans, others are losing their fertility and suffering unnecessary fear and pain, similar to medical torture. Republicans are committed to continuing to allow women and girls to die under their rule if they win the Senate. It's worth pausing here and asking ourselves how they define “pro-life” and why that definition doesn't include the lives of women and girls.

Republicans promise to continue to abuse their power to obstruct the will of the people, which is an attack on the foundations of freedom and democracy on which our country depends. They have become a radicalized party, with sensible Republicans marginalized and extreme voices amplified, in direct contradiction to the current Democratic Party.

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Sarah has been approved to cover President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She also interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi several times and reported exclusively on her first appearance at home after the first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.

Sarah is a two-time Telly Award-winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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