General Discussion

JohnSJ

(98,883 posts) Thu Jul 22, 2021, 10:18 AM Jul 2021

Some in the media, and elsewhere are mischaracterizing Biden as defending the filibuster

Last edited Thu Jul 22, 2021, 11:28 AM - Edit history (2)

That isn't what he said

While he didn't say directly that the votes for getting rid of the filibuster aren't there, what he effectively said was that because of the current layout of the Senate, fighting to get rid of the filibuster would be a losing battle, and nothing else would get done.

That is what he was saying when he said "it would throw the entire Congress into chaos", and all other legislation would be ignored.

Whether people agree with that or not is debatable I guess, but one thing I am fairly certain of, is that if the Senate were able to get Manchin, Sinema, and all other Democrats aboard to eliminate the filibuster, Biden would absolutely support that.

The reality is this is entirely in the Senate's court. It is up to the Senate to determine this.

Here is the transcript of what Biden said about the filibuster:

"
Biden NEVER SAID:

"ending the filibuster will give Republicans an excuse to do nothing."

That is a LIE, and Politico knows it.

What isn't mentioned in all these discussions, it is the SENATE THAT SETS THE RULES, NOT JOE BIDEN.

Does anyone here really believe that Biden will change the minds of Manchin and Sinema? They both have said under no circumstances would they do that. Manchin went as far as saying that he would NOT even make an exception eliminating the filibuster just for issues involving voting rights.

Here is the Transcript from the Town Hall on the filibuster last night:

"And so it takes -- go to your second point. I've been saying for a long, long time, the abuse of the filibuster is pretty overwhelming. When I got to the United States Senate at a time when we had guys like Jim Eastland and Strom Thurman, and Robert F. Byrd, and a whole range of people who were very, very, very, very, very, very conservative on race, to say the least, even then if you were to filibuster, you had to stand on the floor and hold the floor.

And that's why Strom, I think, set the record at 24 straight hours or something. Don't hold me to the number, but -- you know? So you had to take -- there were significantly fewer filibusters in those days, in the middle of the civil rights movement.

LEMON: Well, let me -- let me talk to you about that. Because--

BIDEN: Well, let me finish my answer, because I'd tell you what I'd do. I would go back to that, where you have to maintain the floor. You have to stand there and talk and hold the floor. You can't just say--

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I understand that. But what difference does that -- if you hold the floor for, you know, a day or a year, what difference does it make? Here's the thing for me. You talked about people -- and this is important for people who look like me.

My grandmother would sit around when I was a kid, 5th grade, had a 5th grade education. I learned that she couldn't read when I was doing my homework. And she would tell me stories about people asking her to count the number of jelly beans in the jar--

BIDEN: Yeah.

LEMON: -- or the soap in -- so why is protecting the filibuster, is that more important than protecting voting rights, especially for people who fought and died for that?

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: No. It's not. I want to see the United States Congress, the United States Senate, pass S. 1 and S. 4, the John Lewis Act, get them to my desk so I can sign it.

(APPLAUSE)

But here's the deal. What I also want to do, I want to make sure we bring along not just all the Democrats. We bring along Republicans who I know, know better. They know better than this.

And what I don't want to do is get wrapped up right now `in the argument whether or not this is all about the filibuster or -- look, the American public, you can't stop them from voting. You tried last time. More people voted last time than at any time in American history in the middle of the worst pandemic in American history. More people did.

(APPLAUSE)

And they showed up. They're going to show up again. They're going to do it again. But what I want to do is, I'm trying to bring the country together. And I don't want the debate to only be about whether or not we have a filibuster or exceptions to the filibuster or going back to the way the filibuster had to be used before.

LEMON: But isn't that the only way you're going to get it done right now?

BIDEN: No, I don't believe that. I think we can get it done.

LEMON: If you -- you agree with the former president. He has called -- as you called him, your old boss, that it's a relic of Jim Crow.

BIDEN: It is.

LEMON: If it's a relic of Jim Crow, it's been used to fight against civil rights legislation historically, why protect it?

BIDEN: There's no reason to protect it other than you're going to throw the entire Congress into chaos and nothing will get done. Nothing at all will get done. And there's a lot at stake. The most important one is the right to vote. That's the single most important one. And your vote counted and counted by someone who honestly counts it.

But it goes beyond that. For example, wouldn't my friends on the other side love to have a debate about the filibuster instead of passing the Recovery Act? Or wouldn't they love doing it instead of being in a position where we provide for -- how many of you have children under the age of 17? Raise your hand. Guess what? You're getting a lot of money in a monthly check now, aren't you? No, you deserve -- no, no, no, I really mean it.

Republicans used to fight for it, as well. It's called the child tax credit. If you have a child under the age of 7, you get $300 bucks a month, $350 bucks a month. If you have a child under -- between 7 and 17, you get a total of $200 bucks a month. And guess what? It's cutting child poverty in half. In half."

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2021/07/21/joe-biden-cnn-town-hall-transcript/8051311002/