President Biden told ABC News on Tuesday that he supports reforming the Senate’s philosophical rule to require lawmakers to speak on the Senate floor to delay the passage of a bill.
Why it matters: This is the first time the president has publicly supported the action, after the White House insisted for several weeks that he was opposed to eliminating the filibuster altogether.
Context: Progressives have put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) to remove the 60-vote chamber’s long-standing threshold to pass important legislation on issues, including climate change and voting rights. .
- The elimination of the filibuster would significantly limit the power of the minority party, which uses the procedural rule to delay or block legislative action it opposes.
What they say: Asked whether he should ultimately choose between maintaining the filibuster and advancing the agenda of his administration, Biden said: ‘I do not think you should eliminate the filibuster; you must do it as it was when I first returned to the Senate in the old days. ‘
- “You had to get up and command the floor, you had to keep talking,” Biden said, adding that he would support it.
- “This is what it was supposed to be. It comes at a point where democracy is working hard,”
The whole picture: Biden advocates for the same reform as Senator Joe Manchin (DW.V.), who told Axios on HBO that he supports ‘a little pain’ for senators who want to filter and oppose a simple majority in the chamber. .
- Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader, warned Democrats on Tuesday that eliminating the legislative filibuster would “break the Senate” and turn the room into a “stack of 100 cars” where chaos reigns.