By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will talk about the Senate rules blocking large parts of his agenda “when or if” he has something to say about the legislative filibuster, a spokesperson said on Monday.
Liberal lawmakers have been pressing for the Senate to scrap the rule, which blocks much legislation from passing the Senate without at least 60 votes, a hurdle seen as too high to clear for Biden’s immigration, gun control, abortion, and voting rights plans.
The Democratic president has so far publicly opposed scrapping the rule.
“As for the filibuster, when or if the president has something to say about it, you will hear it directly from him,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Jean-Pierre declined to comment on a Rolling Stone report https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/biden-filibuster-voting-rights-corruption-manchin-sinema-1224269 on Sunday that Biden has told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow Democrat and former Senate colleague, that he stands ready to push for filibuster reform.
“We keep those personal conversations with congressional leadership private,” she said.
The White House said as recently as last month that “the filibuster is, of course, a Senate legislative tool, not a tool controlled by the president” and that Biden “has not changed his position.”
The 100-member chamber is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is able to break ties on issues requiring a 50-vote majority.
Much legislation faces a higher bar because of filibuster rules that allow senators to block votes.
Among the bills Democrats want https://www.reuters.com/world/us/protesters-march-washington-us-cities-voting-rights-2021-08-28 passed is one restoring protections from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices.
“Right now the goal for voting rights legislation has been for the Senate group working on this to come together and to see if they can produce a compromise,” said Jean-Pierre. “Passing the bill is a must-do piece of business for our democracy.”
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
