The congressional Democrats and the Biden administration have several bills that need to be passed to make this country a fairer and more equitable nation -- voting rights reform, criminal justice reform, a livable minimum wage, a public option for health insurance, strengthening labor unions.Sadly, it has become apparent that while these bills can pass in the House of Representatives, they would all be killed in the Senate by Republicans using the filibuster. As it currently stands, all a senator has to do to filibuster a bill is to send a memo stating his/her desire to do so. Once that memo is sent, it takes 60 votes to pass a bill.
Unless the filibuster rule is amended, Republicans will be able to keep any bill from being debated or voted on -- and they have indicated they will do that. The current filibuster must be reformed, or we will have congressional gridlock for the next couple of years.
President Biden knows this, and he has now indicated his support for reform. He is in favor of a return to a "talking filibuster". Here is part of CNN's coverage on Biden support for reform:
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he supports changing the Senate's filibuster ruleby bringing back the talking filibuster, requiring a senator who wants to block legislation to hold the floor without taking a break.
"I don't think that you have to eliminate the filibuster, you have to do it what it used to be when I first got to the Senate back in the old days," Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "You had to stand up and command the floor; you had to keep talking."
"So you're for that reform? You're for bringing back the talking filibuster?" Stephanopoulos asked.
"I am. That's what it was supposed to be," Biden responded.
He added, "It's getting to the point where, you know, democracy is having a hard time functioning."
It's the first time the President has expressed support for any changes to the Senate's legislative filibuster rule, which requires 60 senators to vote to end debate on a bill. The measure is intended to ensure bipartisan support for legislation but often serves as a barrier to popular bills that cannot gain enough votes from the minority party. The rule can be changed with a simple majority vote and the filibuster has already been spiked on judicial appointments.
While the talking filibuster rule would still require 60 votes to end debate on a bill, it would halt all business on the Senate floor until the filibuster was ended. The current Senate rules allow for other bills to be considered and voted on while a more controversial bill is filibustered. . . .
The President's comments on the filibuster come after the White House repeatedly insisted that his preference was not to end the filibuster.
