During a CNN town hall this Thursday, President Biden stated that he was open to changing or abolishing the filibuster in the Senate.
Biden said, “If I get myself into the debate about the filibuster, we lose at least three votes to get what we must get done on the economic side of things, and the foreign policy side of things.”
He continued, “What I have asked in the meantime is that it used to be that the filibuster worked — and we have ten times as many times that the filibuster was used since 1978. It used to be that you stood on the floor and exhausted everything you had, and when you left the floor, and someone else took the floor, they had to talk until they were done. You can only do that a second time. After that, it is done. You vote. I propose we bring this back now, immediately.”
He added, “But I also believe we are going to need to move to where we fundamentally change the filibuster. The idea that, for example, my GOP friends say that we are going to default on the debt because they will filibuster that and we have to have ten Republicans to back us is the most bizarre thing I have ever heard. I think you will see if that gets pulled again. You will see a lot of Democrats being ready to say I am not doing that again. We will end the filibuster. But it still is hard to end the filibuster beyond this. That is another issue.”
News hose Anderson Cooper said, “But are you stating that once you get this current agenda passed on concerning social programs and spending, that you would be open to fundamentally changing the filibuster or removing it?”
Biden said, “It remains to be seem what that means when it comes to fundamentally changing it or whether or not we just stop the filibuster straight up.”
Cooper asked, “And for voting rights, just so I am clear, though, you would entertain the idea of removing the filibuster on this one issue? Is that right?”
Biden said, “And possibly more.”
Author: Blake Ambrose
