Fox News contributor George Will told viewers Thursday on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the Senate's choice to invoke the "nuclear option," a move that eliminates senators' ability to use filibusters to block presidential appointments," was "a melancholy day for American life."
"It diminishes minority rights, which are always at threat in a democracy, where majorities rule," Will said. "It further expands presidential power, which is too powerful under Republicans and Democrats alike."
Senators on both sides of the aisle have threatened to pass the nuclear option for years in order to put an end to increasingly abused filibusters, but Thursday's vote to finally invoke the controversial measure upended nearly a century of tradition in the Senate. Will said that the decision to eliminate certain filibusters is at odds with the original intent of the Senate.
"The founders knew that democracy had to be more than counting noses, more than simply adding up majorities. They had to come up with a way to measure intensity, which the filibuster does," Will said. '"It's a sad day for what used to be a great deliberative body."
Will also suggested that the Democrats who voted for the nuclear option may come to regret their decision if they find themselves in the minority party in the future.
"What this means is, if in the spring of 2017, there's a Republican president - which there could be - the Republicans still hold the House, and they have 51 senators - they can repeal ObamaCare with 51 votes," Will said. "I'm not sure the people who did this today have thought this through."
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