Biden Flips on Filibuster Carve Out for Election Bill

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President Joe Biden has indicated support for changing or abolishing the filibuster in order to pass election legislation, a substantial shift from his long-touted position in favor of the Senateโ€™s peculiar rule.

The flip came after Republicans on Wednesday filibustered Democratsโ€™ โ€œFreedom to Voteโ€ Act, an election bill crafted under the guidance of moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.).

โ€œI think weโ€™re going to have to move to the point where we fundamentally alter the filibuster,โ€ Biden said after the vote.

โ€œIt remains to be seen exactly what that means in terms of fundamentally altering it, whether or not we just end the filibuster straight up,โ€ Biden added.

The failed bill would have created new requirements for groups to disclose information about their donors, named Election Day a national holiday, and created federal standards for voting by mail, early voting, and voter ID.

Democrats have insisted that these measures are necessary as Republican state legislatures across the country strengthen their voting laws in the wake of inconsistencies in the results of the 2020 election. According to critics of the new state laws, they represent a resurgence of the Jim Crow policies of the Reconstruction era; The laws, opponents claim, are meant to disproportionately target minorities, despite the Supreme Courtโ€™s rejection of the claim in 2021 (pdf).

In the past, Biden has been open to some reforms of the filibuster. He has been particularly outspoken in his support for a return to the so-called โ€œtalking filibuster.โ€

Under the โ€œtalking filibusterโ€ standard, at least one minority party senator must stand on the floor and keep talking. Current rules allow a senator to declare their intention to launch a filibuster against a bill or motion, and then whatโ€™s known as a cloture vote is taken, which requires a 60-vote supermajority for further action on the matter.

Sen. Rand Paulโ€™s (R-Ky.) 13 hour-long speech on the Senate floor to oppose John Brennanโ€™s appointment as CIA director in 2013 is one of the most famous talking filibusters in recent memory. Another example came in 2013 with Sen. Ted Cruzโ€™s (R-Texas) filibuster of the Affordable Care Act, during which the senator read โ€œGreen Eggs and Hamโ€ by Dr. Seuss.

In recent years, the rules of the filibuster have been relaxed, effectively putting an end to the talking filibuster.

Byย Joseph Lord

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