Clyburn: I’m ‘Satisfied’ with Biden’s Statements on Filibuster, Need to See if We Can Exempt Voting and Civil Rights Legislation from Filibuster

On Thursday’s “MSNBC Live,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said he is “satisfied” with President Joe Biden’s comments on the filibuster during his press conference earlier in the day and argued for seeing if it’s possible to exempt civil and voting rights legislation from the filibuster.

Clyburn said, “Yes, I am satisfied with what the president said today. The fact of the matter is, I know the history of the filibuster. I know how it’s been used. It was originally intended to allow the minority on any issue to extend the debate out to give them time to build up support for whatever the position might be. Over time, especially during the Jim Crow era, and as we were trying to get voting rights and civil rights legislation going forward, that filibuster was being used to deny voting rights and civil rights, and that’s just a fact. So, just because it was being misused that way doesn’t mean it was intended to be used that way. But I do believe that we’re at the point now that we’ve got to look at this misuse and see whether or not it is possible for us to do for civil rights and voting rights as we’ve done for the budget. We call it reconciliation in order to get around the filibuster when it comes to the budget, there can also be reconciliation to get around voting rights suppression and civil rights in order to move the agenda forward.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett