President Joe Biden argued during a private call with Senate Democrats that they ought to court Republicans for support for Democrats’ blockbuster voting rights bill instead of blowing up the filibuster, according to CNN.
That seems to be a profoundly bad read of the current environment, particular with regards to a Voting Rights bill. Every republican led state legislature in the country is busily writing laws making it harder for people to vote. No republican Senator is going to cross that line.
But even beyond that topic, Biden hasn’t received support for any of his early bills from a single republican, in either the House or the Senate. That’s not about to change.
I think he’s still working on the bipartisanship narrative and offering the other cheek. When it gets slapped, they’ll simply proceed as they did with the rescue bill.
Hopefully, this is just a pro forma move. Biden can’t be stupid enough to trust the GQP, can he?
“I tried to work with them, and they refused, so let’s kill the filibuster”
That’s my guess.
That’s my read on it too. Following form, even though the probability that they’ll go it alone is 99% or higher. But still able to say, well, we tried, folks.
Absolutely no doubt that they will go it alone to move it along.
Oh, Joe,
You are no longer in the Senate. In fact you have not been in the Senate for quite a few years.
Remember those Republicans who you could work with? They are pretty much long gone. Their replacements have no desire to work with you or the Democratic senators. In fact they will do anything and everything they can to make sure you never get what you want nor what America voted for.
Just give it up, Joe. The Senate is not your friend.
I surely hope you all are right. It is far too late to “court Republicans for support” for anything meaningful.
Except the conversation is specifically about a bill that cannot go the reconciliation path, and therefore would require 60 votes. There cannot be “doing it with only Dems” for a Voting Rights Bill, and Democratic Senators are telling him that reality.
This is the problem Biden is facing; his ability to pass meaningful legislature is severely curtailed if it can only be bills that can be proposed under reconciliation. Without meaningful filibuster reform, the Rescue bill is probably the high water mark for legislation passed by the Biden administration.
I get the optics of making appeals to woo the other side. But the problem I stated is underlined by the fact that we don’t even have all 50 Dem votes on reforming the filibuster right now, Manchin is still a holdout; and the two most widely seen as persuadable republican Senators, Romney and Collins, are staunchly against any reform of the filibuster.
I presume this is just posturing in advance of Manchin agreeing to a rule change that they can claim does not kill the filibuster, such as changing reconciliation rules so that they allow any bill that expands the franchise. Either that or the guy really is senile like Fox News says.
Racist Republicans backing Voting Rights?
Not.
Gonna.
Happen.
Bad idea
Nah. 50 votes changes the 60 vote rule. Biden appears to be saying “Let’s pass this with Republican votes,” but the first three words are more operative than the last three.
Except that is not what the article says:
Biden’s argument was a response to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) imploring his colleagues to get rid of the filibuster, which requires most legislation to receive 60 votes in order to pass rather than a simple majority, for the sake of the sweeping voting reforms that would be established by the bill as Republicans across the country ramp up voter suppression efforts, particularly in Warnock’s home state.
The President, who has advocated for “talking” filibusters, reportedly pushed back against Warnock’s plea for his support for getting rid of the filibuster wholesale, saying that Democrats should keep trying to pressure GOP lawmakers, none of whom have offered support for the bill, instead.
All but one Democratic senator have signed onto the legislation. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who insists on keeping the filibuster, is the one holdout. He told CNN that “there are a lot of good things in the bill that we can work on” but “we have to do a bit of work.”
There seems to be a lot of “reading between the lines” going on here this morning, perhaps because of the tack on added about the current filibuster rule change head count, but the article as I read it, is specifically addressing strategizing passing the Voting Rights bill, with the current rules as they are in the Senate.
Yes, because the report does not understand subtext.
What I’m saying relates to your number 3. I’d change it to
Biden is withholding support for filibuster changes until they try to get republican votes first.
He wants them to make a show of it first. Then, I believe they’ll move forward on legislation however it becomes necessary.
This better be a jiu jitsu move and not just a credulous belief unsupported by any evidence
Agreed. Biden isn’t stupid. He’s not naive and he knows what he’s doing. He knows Republicans have as much of a vested interest in killing this bill as Dems do in passing it. Dems would be wise to appear to be seeking Republican support only to move on when they’re unable to attain it. That strategy worked well with the rescue package.
Biden knew his “plea” for Republican support of the voting rights bill would leak. He knows today’s GQP seeks to shrink the electorate, not make it easier to vote. Biden is cleverly sending the message that he’ll support legislative filibuster reform unless GQPers support the bill. It’s all a clever dance both for voters and political cover for Manchin and Sinema, and the end result will be a “reluctant” support by Biden to end the current filibuster.
Count on it.
Maybe, but I will reiterate…there is not s single republican Senator showing even an interest in this bill, and at the same time, every republican controlled legislature in the country is in the process of passing new laws moving 180 degrees in the opposite direction.
The republican national line on voting rights has been stated, and is being enacted. We aren’t going to get 10 republican Senators to go against that.
Is he kidding. The members of the GOP believe sincerely that the only way the GOP can survive is to suppress voting. They were horrified by the turnout in 2020. I doubt you will find 10 senators willing to buck the conventional wisdom of the Republican party. They view minority voting as an existential threat.