WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday night Democrats are considering a change to Senate’s filibuster rules to get around Republican obstruction and lift the nation’s debt limit.
The President made the surprising revelation upon his return to the White House after spending part of his day in Michigan. The Senate is currently in a standoff over a vote to allow the federal government to continue borrowing to pay its bills and suspend the nation’s debt limit.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a few weeks ago the country will run out of money if a deal is not reached before the October 18 deadline.
“It’s a real possibility,” Biden told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins outside the White House.
Biden has long been against any filibuster rule changes but his comments to reporters on Tuesday night. If the filibuster is abolished, that would change the 60-vote threshold for passage to 50. With a 50-50 Senate tie, Vice President Kamala Harris would vote with the Democrats for passage.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to force Democrats to vote along party lines in the hopes the process will eat into other times they have for their agenda. However, a change to the chamber filibuster rule is unlikely as it would need all 50 Democrats on board for the chance to occur.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) has long said he would not vote for any changes to the filibuster rule. Additionally, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has raised concerns about the filibuster changes as well.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not comment one way or the other on Tuesday. Instead, he doubled down on comments he and Biden have already made: for the Republicans to stop preventing the Democrats from doing what needs to be done.
“The best way to get this done is for Republicans to just get out of the way,” Schumer said.
