Senate Democrats continue to advocate for eliminating the legislative filibuster, in order to fast track the Biden administration’s agenda without support from Republicans. Democrat Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), have thus far refused to cave to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) hope of scrapping the 60-vote threshold, but President Joe Biden has not yet condemned the effort to turn the Senate into one-party rule.
Years before becoming president, during his tenure in the Senate, Biden was a strong proponent of the filibuster. He praised the measure’s ability to mandate “compromise and moderation.”
“At its core, the filibuster is not about stopping a nominee or a bill, it is about compromise and moderation. That is why the Founders put unlimited debate in. That is what it is about, engendering compromise and moderation,” Biden said in a floor speech in 2005.
Then-SEN. BIDEN (5/23/2005): “At its core, the filibuster is not about stopping a nominee or a bill, it is about compromise and moderation. That is why the Founders put unlimited debate in. That is what it is about, engendering compromise and moderation.” pic.twitter.com/AnmfRsaKpk
— Senate Republican Communications Center (@SRCC) January 25, 2021
Now, with mounting pressure from the far-left to pass a progressive agenda, the president will not outright defend the filibuster. He said recently that the measure was being “abused” by Republicans, but his own party utilized the filibuster throughout the Trump administration. Democrats filibustered legislation for COVID relief checks, as well as bipartisan police reform, among other Republican-led proposals.