President Biden supports “immediate” move to talking filibuster, open to “fundamentally altering it” beyond that
President Biden to voting rights and filibuster reform advocates: “I think they make a very good point”
Washington, DC – Today, Fix Our Senate released the following statement from spokesman Eli Zupnick in response to President Biden’s call for filibuster reform at last night’s CNN Town Hall.
“President Biden’s strong comments are an absolute game-changer in the fight to finally eliminate the outdated and abused Senate filibuster. There is now a clear consensus across the Democratic Party – from moderates to progressives, in DC and across the country – that the filibuster is a clear threat to our democracy and President Biden’s agenda and must be reformed.
“We’ve been saying for months that we needed President Biden to use his bully pulpit to push for reform, and we’re so glad that he has jumped into this fight with both feet and has committed to working with Senate Democrats to get it done.
“It’s clearer than ever that the filibuster is not long for this world. The only question remaining is whether Senate Democrats will stand with President Biden and reform it now, or whether Sen. McConnell takes back the Senate and eliminates it later.”
Transcript of President Biden’s comments on the filibuster
Anderson Cooper: Let me ask. On voting rights, if it is as important to you as you say, I think there's a lot of Democrats who look at the filibuster and would like to see it changed, even if it's just on this one case. Why do you oppose that?
President Joe Biden: By the way, I think they make a very good point. Here's the deal. If, in fact, I get myself into at this moment the debate on the filibuster, I lose at least three votes right now to get what I have to get done on the economic side of the equation, on the foreign policy side of the equation. So, what I have said -- you're shaking your head no, but let me tell you something, Jack, it's the truth, number one. Number two, number two, what I have proposed, in the meantime, is, it used to be, the filibuster, the way it worked -- and we have 10 times as many -- more than that -- times the filibuster has been used since 1978. It used to be, you had to stand on the floor and exhaust everything you had.
And you went -- and when you gave up the floor, and someone else sought the floor, they had to talk until they finished. You're only allowed to do it a second time. After that, it's over. You vote. Somebody moved for the vote. I propose we bring that back now, immediately. But I also think we're going to have to move to the point where we fundamentally alter the filibuster.
The idea that, for example, my Republican friends say that we're going to default on the national debt because they're going to filibuster that, and then we need 10 Republicans to support us, is the most bizarre thing I ever heard. I think you're going to see -- if that gets pulled again, I think you are going to see an awful lot of Democrats being ready to say, not me. I'm not doing that again. We're going to end the filibuster. But it still is difficult to end the filibuster beyond that. That's another issue.
Cooper: But are you saying, once you get this current agenda passed on spending and social programs, that you would be open to fundamentally altering the filibuster or doing away with it?
Biden: I am open to fundamentally altering it.
Cooper: Or doing away with it?
Biden: Well, that remains to be seen exactly what that means, in terms of fundamentally altering it, and whether or not we just end the filibuster straight up. There are certain things that are just sacred rights. One is a sacred obligation that we never are going to renege on a debt. We're the only nation in the world we have never, ever reneged on a single debt.
Cooper: But when it comes to voting rights, you --
Biden: Voting rights is equally as consequential.
Cooper: When it comes to voting rights, just so I'm clear, though, you would entertain the notion of doing away with the filibuster on that one issue? Is that correct?
Biden: And maybe more.