President Biden has said he backs creating a carveout in the Senate filibuster to pass sweeping election reform legislation over united Republican opposition.
"The only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster. I support making an exception on voting rights for the filibuster," Biden told ABC "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir in an interview.
The president said the bill is important enough to change Senate rules and allow Democrats to bypass the usual 60-vote threshold to approve legislation in the 50-50 divided Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this week said he would take up voting reform legislation when Congress begins its new session in January and will move to change the chamber's rules if Republicans continue their opposition.
"If Senate Republicans continue to abuse the filibuster and prevent the body from considering this bill, the Senate will then consider changes to any rules which prevent us from debating and reaching final conclusion on important legislation," Schumer wrote in a letter to colleagues.
Bypassing the filibuster would allow Senate Democrats to pass legislation with a simple majority, but moderate Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have opposed using the maneuver.
Biden suggested during a CNN town hall in October that Democrats will have to "Fundamentally alter" the filibuster to pass his administration's legislative agenda.
https://nypost.com/2021/12/23/joe-biden-supports-senate-filibuster-exception-for-voting-rights/
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