16 Mar 2021
President Joe Biden is open to ideas about getting rid of the Senate filibuster, the White House said Tuesday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that although Biden’s “preference” was “not to make changes” to the filibuster, “he is also open to hearing ideas.”
Psaki spoke to reporters about the filibuster during the president’s trip to Pennsylvania to promote his massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending bill.
She pointed out that Biden did not have the power to stop Democrats from changing the Senate rules.
“This is, of course, a Senate rule,” she said. “It’s not a law that he would change or sign into law. It’s a Senate rule.”
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Source: Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP
High-ranking Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) indicated on Wednesday that she is “undecided” about eliminating the legislative filibuster, which implements a 60-vote threshold to pass major legislation. Scrapping the procedural hurdle would allow Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to fast-track President Biden’s legislative agenda, with just 51 votes from his chamber, without the consent of Republican lawmakers.
Feinstein warned that Senate Republicans could turn the tables once the GOP takes back the majority in the upper chamber.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) tells Capitol Hill pool she s not yet sold on nixing the filibuster, fretting that it could backfire on Democrats when GOP regains power.
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Source: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) brought the receipts to highlight Senate Democrats’ hypocrisy on the legislative filibuster, a 60-vote threshold for major legislation, which the majority caucus now hopes to abolish.
“The legislative filibuster is the most important distinction between the Senate and the House. Without the 60-vote threshold for legislation, the Senate becomes a majoritarian institution like the House, much more subject to the winds of short-term electoral change. No senator would like to see that happen. So let s find a way to further protect the 60-vote rule for legislation,” McConnell said on the Senate floor, quoting Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) from 2017.