President Joe Biden declined to say on Thursday that he would support the end of the 60-vote limit required for the approval of most bills by the Senate, even with the mysterious maneuver putting the Democratic legislative agenda at risk.
Biden’s comments came during his first press conference as president, in response to a question about how many votes should be needed to break an obstruction: 60, or a simple majority of 51. He had not addressed this central issue before, even suggesting senators they must be forced to speak further to support their objections to the legislation.
“If we could finish with 51, we would have no problems,” said Biden, admitting that “it will be difficult to get a parliamentary decision that allows 50 votes to end the obstruction, the existence of an obstruction”.
“But it is not my experience of what parliamentary rules are and how to get there,” continued Biden. He spent nearly four decades as a Democratic senator from Delaware before becoming vice president and now commander in chief.
Read more “