Biden says he’s open to eliminating filibuster to pass voting-rights ‘and maybe more’ issues
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday he’s open to supporting the elimination of the Senate’s filibuster to pass voting-rights legislation and other bills that Republicans have blocked.
“We’re going to have to move to the point where we fundamentally alter the filibuster,” Biden said during a 90-minute televised CNN town hall Thursday.
His remarks came one day after Senate Republicans, for the third time this year, used the filibuster to block voting reform legislation that seeks to overturn restrictions adopted by GOP-led state legislatures since the 2020 election.
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CNN’s Anderson Cooper, host of the town hall, asked the president if he would entertain the notion of getting rid of filibuster on voting rights as one possible issue.
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Biden, however, gave one major reason Thursday why he might ultimately refrain from getting behind blowing up the filibuster.
The president said if he supports a carve-out of the filibuster for voting-rights legislation, he would lose “three votes right now” for his multi-trillion-dollar Build Back Better package that he’s negotiating with Senate Democrats. Biden is seeking to pass the plan through a legislative process called budget reconciliation, which would require support from all 50 senators to pass the evenly split Senate.
Reach Joey Garrison @joeygarrison.