Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Friday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that while she would like to see the filibuster rule go, she would settle for lifting it for “constitutional matters, in particular, the right to vote.”
Host Joy Reid said, “You served in the United States Senate. You also were there when President Obama tried to do some big, bold things and got shut down. The first black president was treated quite disrespectfully in a lot of ways. Do you think that the filibuster, which has been a Jim Crow artifact and it is now standing in the way of Joe Biden doing big things on, you know, criminal justice reform, on voting, do you think the filibuster should go? And do you think that Joe Manchin and others who still cling to it can be overcome?”
Clinton said, “Well, I think it should go because I think its usefulness has passed us by. If there is not the votes to get rid of it completely, I would like to see it lifted for constitutional matters, in particular, the right to vote, how we set up and run our elections, which is really at the core of everything else.”
She added, “So, although I’m in the camp now, which says, look, you know, we have so many problems showing that we can govern ourselves, the president is absolutely right to say that this truly is a contest between democracy and autocracy. That we need to show, not just ourselves, but the world that we can get things done, I would like to see it eliminated. If we don’t have the votes for that, I would like to see us lift it for constitutional matters, at least.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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