President Biden has said he won’t support efforts to gut the Senate’s legislative filibuster. But we have no reason to believe him, especially because the filibuster is the only thing standing between him and what he hopes is the most radical Democratic agenda yet.
Biden reportedly met with a group of advisers and historians recently to discuss “how big is too big and how fast is too fast” when it comes to pushing “once-in-a-lifetime historic changes to America,” according to Axios. Some of those changes include controversial policies such as gun control, a climate change initiative similar to the Green New Deal, student loan debt forgiveness, and the elimination of voting regulations.
The conclusion from that meeting was straightforward: Go big, go fast, and don’t let anything get in the way — especially not the filibuster, which essentially forces the two political parties to compromise.
Axios reports: “People close to Biden tell us he’s feeling bullish on what he can accomplish, and is fully prepared to support the dashing of the Senate’s filibuster rule to allow Democrats to pass voting rights and other troops legislation for his party.”
If it wasn’t already obvious, Biden is no centrist. He can talk about compromise and “healing” as much as he wants, but he would gladly toss every check and balance if it meant he’d be seen as the next Franklin D. Roosevelt. That’s why he refused to give a straight answer about whether he’d support efforts to pack the Supreme Court during the presidential campaign and why he’s so hesitant to address Senate Democrats’ push to overhaul the filibuster now. Put simply, if his party wants it done, Biden won’t stand in the way.
So as long as Biden is in the White House, the filibuster is not safe. We can only hope other members of his party, most notably Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, have more of a spine than he does.
