Biden signals he's open to eliminating Senate filibuster over GOP "abuse"

Washington — President Biden signaled on Thursday that he would be willing to consider supporting the elimination of the filibuster if Senate Republicans use it to block Democratic legislative priorities from receiving a full vote on the Senate floor. He also advocated the return of a "talking" filibuster, which would require a senator to talk for an extended period of time in order to block a bill.

Most legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Democrats hold a narrow 50-seat majority, and most Democratic legislation is unlikely to garner support from 10 Republicans. The filibuster is the biggest roadblock to Democrats achieving most of their legislative priorities. At his first press conference as president, Mr. Biden said the filibuster was "being abused in a gigantic way." He added that a talking filibuster would force senators "to stand there and talk and talk and talk and talk until you collapse," and then the Senate could proceed with a vote afterwards.