WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden again defended a “talking obstruction” on Thursday to make it more difficult for a minority party to block bills and, for the first time, expressed a willingness to go further in revising the rule.
In his first press conference as president, Biden received numerous questions about the 60-vote limit and said he was “being abused enormously”.
He said the rule should be reverted to a “talking obstruction”, which was changed to a silent obstruction in the 1970s. “You had to stay there and talk and talk and talk and talk until you pass out,” he said, adding that eventually the conversation ends and the Senate can proceed.
“I strongly support moving in that direction,” said Biden.
The president’s comments come at a time when much of his agenda is threatened by the Senate’s 60-vote limit, due to widespread Republican opposition in a chamber divided by 50-50 between parties. He said his goal is to find a way to negotiate and make progress on his goals.
But he also indicated that he can support going further, if that fails.
“We will do a lot. And if we have to – if there is total blockage and chaos as a result of the obstruction, then we will have to go beyond what I am talking about,” said Biden.
At this time, Democrats do not have the 50 Senate votes needed to abolish obstruction, with some prominent resisters supporting the demand for an effective super-majority majority to pass bills.
Biden said he intends to “get things done” according to his campaign promises and added: “I’ve never been particularly poor at figuring out how to do things in the United States Senate.”
Biden is unable to vote for the obstructionist, but his position is important. It can be influential with moderate Democratic senators who are on the fence. And if the caucus is unified in terms of its abolition or modification, Vice President Kamala Harris will cast the deciding vote.
Asked on Thursday whether he agrees with former President Barack Obama that the obstruction is a “relic of Jim Crow”, Biden replied, “Yes”.
Republicans noted that the position is a reversal for Biden, who served in the Senate for 36 years and has a long history of defending the 60-vote rule.
“Senator Biden was a relentless advocate for obstruction – but now that President Biden looks in the mirror and sees FDR, he is keeping the door open for a complete 180 to blow up the institution he has spent four decades defending,” Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Said in a statement.
