Dianne Feinstein says the Senate should look at obstruction reform.

Senator Dianne Feinstein has long been seen as one of the big supporters of the obstruction. Now she is making it clear that her mind can change, giving a big boost to Democrats who want to end the procedure that effectively requires most legislation to receive 60 votes to pass the Senate. Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for nearly three decades, said on Friday that the shootings in Atlanta this week are pushing her to change her mind and she may be open to changing the way the obstruction works if senators can’t get together in a bipartisan manner in gun control and voting rights legislation.

“If that proves to be impossible and Republicans continue to abuse obstruction by demanding clotting votes, I am open to changing the way the Senate’s obstruction rules are used.” the California Democrat said in a statement. “I don’t want to stray from the Senate’s traditions, but I also don’t believe that a party should be able to prevent voting on important projects by abusing obstruction.”

In the statement, Feinstein stressed that President Joe Biden also expressed support for the change this week. Biden, who served in the Senate for 36 years, suggested that he could endorse what is known as “talking obstruction”, which basically requires a senator to keep talking to maintain the obstruction. “I don’t think you have to remove the obstruction. You have to do what it used to be when I arrived in the Senate in the old days, ”said Biden in an interview with ABC News. “You had to get up and command the ground. And you had to keep talking. “

Feinstein had previously said that she was not too eager to change the obstruction rules because she was concerned about what could happen if Republicans regained control of the Senate. It was not the only resistance among Democrats to change the rules, but even some who spoke about the importance of obstruction seem willing to at least talk about reform. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, for example, said recently that he was willing to discuss the requirement for a speaking obstructor.

With Feinstein and Manchin expressing potential support for at least some form of reform, the main obstacle among Democrats is now Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Synema was not only opposed to reforming the obstruction, she also said she would consider strengthening the obstruction. Considering the 50/50 division of the Senate, Democrats would likely need the support of all members of their party to carry out any reforms.