During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina promised to use the “talking filibuster” to its full extent if the rules of the Senate are adjusted.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden expressed his support for bringing back the older version of the filibuster. During an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Biden said, “I don’t think you have to eliminate the filibuster, you have to do it what it used to be when I first got to the Senate, and that is in a filibuster, you had to stand up and command the floor.”
When Stephanopoulos asked if he was in favor of bringing back the talking filibuster, Biden said, “I am. That’s what it was supposed to be.”
On Wednesday, Senator Graham explained that with a 50-50 split Senate, unanimous consent is needed in order to do anything of significance. Additionally, 51 Senators — not including the Vice President — must be present in order to hold a quorum for the talking filibuster.
“If they did this,” he said, “we could really shut down the entire Senate because we just won’t show up. Here’s what Biden needs to understand: if you go to the talking filibuster, we will take the floor to stop HR 1.”
Graham continued, “I would talk till I fell over to make sure we don’t go to ballot harvesting and voting by mail without voter ID. I would talk till I fell over to make sure that the Equality Act doesn’t become law, destroying the difference between a man and woman in our law.”
Some Democrats have sought to get rid of the filibuster entirely, but a move like that would require at least a united Democrat front, and Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have said they are not in favor of such a move.
Graham said that there is not a way to end the legislative filibuster with a 50-50 Senate, but he warned that if the Democrats gain any ground in the midterm election and get more seats, they would “deal Joe Manchin out and they would change the rules of the Senate.”
He added, “At the end of the day, 2022 is the best hope for us to stop this crazy stuff.”
The Daily Wire’s Tim Pearce reports that before the Senate rules were changed in 1970, senators were required to remain on the floor of the Senate and speak for hours in order to continue the debate on a specific bill and run out the allotted time for a vote. “In 1970, the Senate changed its filibuster procedure so that a senator may just move to filibuster a bill and the body could move on to other business.”
Currently, the Senate rules allow for an individual senator to filibuster a bill, which can block the body from holding a vote on it at all. The filibuster can be reversed if sixty senators vote to override it and force a vote by closing the debate. “In practice, the filibuster means that only bills with broad bipartisan support are passed by the Senate.”
Graham made the point that if the Senate wishes to do anything as major as what the Democrats are pushing with regard to election laws, “you should be able to get a few votes from the other side, right?”