“At its core, the filibuster is not about stopping a nominee or a bill. It’s about compromise and moderation.”
Those were President Joe Biden’s words, delivered 16 years ago when Republicans wanted to change the rules of the Senate to prevent Democrats from using the filibuster, a legislative stall tactic, to block judicial appointments.
Gutting the filibuster would “eviscerate the Senate and turn it into the House of Representatives,” Biden argued in 2005. “It is not only a bad idea; it upsets the constitutional design, and it disservices the country. … Altering Senate rules to help in one political fight or another could become standard operating procedure, which, in my view, would be disastrous. … God save us from that fate.”
God save us, indeed. Because now it is Biden, backed by an army of party activists and congressional Democrats eager to pass a radical agenda, who is threatening the filibuster in order to win a political fight.
“I strongly support moving in that direction,” Biden said during his first press conference on Wednesday when he was asked if he would support efforts to force senators to return to the talking filibuster, which requires senators to hold the floor to block legislation.
“We’re going to get a lot done, and if we have to, if there’s complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’ll have to go beyond what I’m talking about,” Biden continued.
Recent reports have confirmed that Biden now sees the filibuster as an obstacle in the way of his presidential legacy, despite his recent promises (just last year) to protect it. He wants to be the next Franklin D. Roosevelt or the next Lyndon B. Johnson, but that won’t be possible if Senate Democrats are forced to compromise with Republicans on key pieces of legislation.
If Democrats somehow find the 51 votes necessary to overturn the filibuster, Biden won’t stand in their way. He might even use the power of his office to pressure hesitant senators, specifically Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and make sure Democrats do have the 51 votes they need. At this point, we should assume he has already begun to do just that.
