Washington – President Biden indicated on Thursday that he would be willing to consider the abolition of the filibuster if Senate Republicans use it to prevent Democratic legislative priorities from getting a full vote on the Senate floor. He also advocated the return of a ‘talking’ filibuster, which would require a senator to talk for a long time to block a bill.
Most Senate legislation requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Democrats hold a narrow majority of 50 seats, and most Democratic legislation is unlikely to receive support from 10 Republicans. The filibuster is the biggest roadblock for Democrats to achieve most of their legislative priorities.
During his first press conference as president, Mr. Biden that the filibuster was “abused in a gigantic way”. He added that a talking filibuster would force senators “to stand there and talk and talk and talk until you collapse,” and then the Senate could move on to a vote after that.
“I am strongly in favor of going in that direction,” said Mr Biden. This would not solve the problem of a bill that would require 60 votes to move forward, and it bypassed whether he believed it would take 60 votes or 51 votes to break a filibuster.
He also called himself a “ practical man ” and suggested he would be willing to continue on the filibuster if it seemed clear that democratic priorities such as voting rights bills wouldn’t get votes on the ground.
“If we have to, if there is complete lockdown and chaos as a result of the filibuster, then we will have to go beyond what I’m talking about,” said Mr. Biden.
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Democrats were able to make it through their recent US $ 1.9 trillion bailout using a process known as reconciliation, which allows certain bills to be passed by simple majority. But reconciliation cannot be used for most types of legislation, creating an eventual confrontation in the Senate over immigration, voting rights and more.
Earlier on Thursday, Senate leader Chuck Schumer said he would bring a grand bill on voting rights and government reform to the Senate for a vote, even though it is almost certain it will fail due to Republican resistance.
GOP senators argue that S. 1, known as the For the People Act, is a seizure of power by Democrats, while Democrats insist they are trying to protect the right to vote, as several states are enacting legislation that could make voting more difficult.
“Across the country, the Republican Party seems to believe that the best strategy to win elections is not to win more voters, but to keep the other party from voting,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday. ‘That’s not America. That is not democracy. And this Senate will take action to protect the voting rights of tens of millions of Americans. The Senate will vote on the For the People Act. ‘
The bill would allow for automatic, national, and online voter registration across the country. It contains some measures that would require states to review their registration systems. It would expand absenteeism, increase states’ ability to remove people from voter rolls, increase federal funds for election security, and reform the redistribution process.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell slammed S. 1 in a speech on the Senate floor shortly after Schumer spoke, calling the Democratic arguments that the right to vote would protect “utter nonsense.”
“That goal is to get the Democrats in Washington to manipulate the rules of democracy from above to hide that Partisan project behind the smokescreen of voting rights,” McConnell said.
The For the People Act may not even get the support of all Democrats, as Senator Joe Manchin expressed his skepticism about the bill on Wednesday. He is currently the only Democrat in the Senate who is not a co-sponsor of the bill. Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, is also strongly opposed to eliminating the filibuster.
“I think we should all be able to be united around the right to vote, but it should be limited to the right to vote,” Manchin told reporters on Wednesday, arguing that S. 1 as it is now written “could divide us even further on on a partisan basis. ”But if the bill were limited to voting rights, it would delete provisions on campaign finance and ethical reforms that are key priorities for progressives.
In a lengthy statement on Tuesday, Manchin expressed concern about S. 1, saying he would support bipartisan legislation on voting rights.
“As the Senate prepares to pass the For the People Act, we must work towards a two-pronged solution that protects everyone’s right to vote, protects our elections from foreign interference, and increases the transparency of our campaign finance laws. benefits over time, but will inevitably exacerbate the mistrust millions of Americans have of the US government, “Manchin said.
His statement on Thursday further indicates that he is not prepared to create an exception to the filibuster rule specifically for voting rights, as has been suggested by some Democrats. Manchin said last week that creating such a carve-out would be “like being a little pregnant,” meaning it’s impossible to change the filibuster only partially.
Some senators have changed their minds about the filibuster as it becomes clear that Republicans will be blocking many bills backed by Democrats. Senator Angus King, an independent consulting Democrats, wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post on Wednesday that “supporting the continuation of the rule becomes increasingly difficult to justify” if the minority uses the filibuster as a tool for obstruction.
“Outright opposition to reasonable protections of voting rights cannot be made possible by the filibuster; if I am forced to choose between a senate rule and democracy itself, I know where I will come down,” wrote King. He quoted Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, who recently said in a speech on the Senate floor that “it contradicts saying that we must protect the rights of minorities in the Senate, while refusing to protect the rights of minorities in society. “.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema has also said she is against the lifting of the rule. Unless she and Manchin change their minds, most of the progressive legislation proposed by the Democrats will remain in the dark.
In a letter to Democratic colleagues on Thursday, Schumer also said that the Senate Judiciary Committee would soon pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would restore the provisions of the 1965 Supreme Court voting rights law. Like S. 1, it is unlikely that the necessary support will be received from 60 senators.
Schumer added that the Senate will pass the Equality Act, which would provide legal protections to LGBTQ Americans, and the COVID-19 hate crime legislation proposed by Senator Mazie Hirono to protect Asian Americans from violence and discrimination.
He also said the Senate would pass gun control laws and bills related to climate change, both of which are unlikely to receive Republican backing.
“The challenges that our country still faces are enormous, and there is no reason why both sides cannot work together on issues that will affect our country and the future of our children,” Schumer said in his speech at the Senate floor. “We will not agree on everything, but we must agree that passivity is unacceptable. The Senate must help the country finish the job against COVID while continuing to build a more equal economy and a fairer society. “