Biden Expresses Support For Reforming Filibuster: ‘It’s Being Abused in a Gigantic Way’
President Joe Biden expressed his support for reforming the filibuster during his first news conference at the White House Thursday — but stopped short of calling for its abolition.
In the past, Biden has defended the filibuster as a practice in the Senate, though he has hinted lately that he is open to reforming it if the filibuster continues to halt the functionality of Congress.
PBS White House reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked Biden a series of immigration questions, but she also asked him if he would support a new rule that would allow him to work around the political blockades of the filibuster.
“Why not back a filibuster rule that at least gets around issues including voting rights or immigration? Jim Clyburn, someone of course who you know very well, has backed the idea of a filibuster rule when it comes to civil rights and voting rights,” Alcindor asked.
Biden answered by decrying how often the filibuster is used when it was previously employed much more sparingly.
“It’s being abused in a gigantic way,” Biden said. “It used to be that you had to stand there and talk and talk until you collapse. And guess what? People got tired of talking and tired of collapsing. Filibusters broke down and we were able to break the filibuster and get a vote. So I strongly support moving in that direction, in addition to having an open mind about dealing with certain things that are just elemental to the functioning of our democracy.”
Biden concluded his answer by saying if the senate reaches a point of “lockdown and chaos” because of the filibuster, “then we’ll have to go beyond what I’m talking about.”
Later, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked if Biden agreed with former President Barack Obama that “the filibuster is a relic of the Jim Crow era?”
Biden agreed, prompting Collins to ask, “Why not abolish it if it’s a relic of the Jim Crow era?”
“Successful electoral politics is the art of the possible,” Biden replied.
Watch above, via Fox News.
