During Friday's broadcast of Huntsville radio WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show," State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) spoke about the ongoing government shutdown and why he believes Senate Democrats are continuing to vote against reopening the government.
According to Orr, there are two reasons why the federal government remains closed by Democrats: recently sent out notices for premium increases being utilized as leverage and liberal election victories across the country.
"The notices for the premium increases went out first in November, and so those who are on Obamacare are going to see their premiums go up," Orr told host Dale Jackson. "So I'm sure the Democrats were waiting on that to happen and see those premium increase notices, and now people are getting more concerned and wanting the subsidies to continue and and what I read is that a lot of the subsidies are going to the wealthy and people that just their income is kind of low, but they got plenty of assets."
"I thought it was going to end towards after the elections or whatever, but I think the Democrats may have been energized by them and seeing those notices of premium increases going out is giving them some wind behind their sails," Orr added.
According to Orr, if Senate Dems continue voting against reopening the government, Republican leadership may move to terminate the filibuster.
"It could very well lead Mr. Thune and company to just blow up the filibuster rule and go down to a strict majority because the President's right, as soon as the Democrats get the Senate, they're going to torch the filibuster rule, and it's just going to be a raw power majority rule, just like the House," he explained.
Orr was asked if Alabama Republicans would eliminate the filibuster in the state legislature, should the need arise.
"I think it could happen," he said. "Right now, it's not an issue because thanks to the people of Alabama, we have a super majority, and the Democrats are about a quarter of the body, so we're in a pretty strong position."
"But if it's tightened up, yes, it could happen," Orr added.
The current government shutdown is now the longest in American history, surpassing the previous record of the second-longest shutdown, which lasted from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019.
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