U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) joined Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Monday evening to discuss the filibuster and the uncertain political future of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) following the government shutdown.
Tuberville, who has repeatedly called for ending the parliamentary procedure in recent weeks, told Kudlow that Democrats will eliminate the filibuster after regaining the majority in the upper chamber.
"It'll be the first thing that they do. They'll bust the filibuster," Tuberville said on "Kudlow." "It's over. They showed that last time, only because [Joe] Manchin and [Kyrsten] Sinema, who I talked with a lot right before that vote, they saved us, because it would have been a detriment to even the election if they had done that."
The lawmaker argued that if Republicans eliminate the filibuster now, issues such as voter identification and mail-in ballots could be properly addressed.
"So President Trump is exactly right. You know, the first thing we would do, and President Trump will tell you, this, is if we go bust, the filibuster it would be 51 votes to get voter ID, 51 votes no-mail-in ballots," Tuberville explained. "We have got to make sure our voting is accurate, and we don't have people, you know, have an illegal smoke the things that even happened in this last election."
"It's not just the [election of ] president, it's also the congressional and the Senate, and even local and state elections that have huge problems with no voter ID and mail-in ballots," he added.
Kudlow asked if Schumer would remain the de facto leader of the left in the Senate after drawing criticism from fellow Democrats for failing to keep the government shut down.
"No, I think he's done. I think unless he makes a drastic change in the next CR in January and really stands up to us again and convinces his caucus," Tuberville responded. "The problem is, he lost eight people last night. You can't lose people in your caucus if you're a Democrat. We lose them because we have open minds on the Republican side. People are going to vote their conscience, and they're going to vote for their state. The Democrats vote for power."
According to Tuberville, Schumer's political future will likely be decided by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
"[H]e's losing it very quickly, and it just depends on if that young lady from New York wants to run. But at the end of the day, they've got a huge divide in the Democratic side," Tuberville added.
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