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Biden Says Ending the Filibuster Would Lead to ‘Gridlock’. Really?

Where has he been for the entirety of his term thus far?

Lauren Elizabeth
4 min readJul 22, 2021
Joe Biden Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Biden’s tenure as President hasn’t exactly been full of stellar accomplishment. Ever since the Covid-19 relief bill, Biden has been unable and unwilling to pressure lawmakers even amongst his own party to get behind his agenda. Though, the fact that the two Senators from Delaware who happen to be his closest allies in the Senate voted against the $15 minimum wage seems to lend reason to believe it was never his agenda to begin with. All that being said, one thing we can rely dependably upon Democrats for is excuses as to why they can’t seem to get anything done. Of course, among the most popular of the talking points centers around the filibuster, which with its establishment of a 60 vote threshold for anything to pass effectively sends legislation to die in the Senate.

Understandably, senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have been the faces of the opposition to filibuster reform, and happily represent a broader obstructionist movement that seeks to use it to torpedo virtually any progressive policy goals, even voting rights legislation. While I have admittedly focused most of my ire on the subject towards the two of them, I have asked a number of times: where is Joe Biden? Are we really expected to believe…

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Lauren Elizabeth
Lauren Elizabeth

Written by Lauren Elizabeth

Lauren is a writer & leftist with analysis on topics related to politics & policy. She can be reached at LaurenMartinchek@gmail.com or Twitter @xlauren_mx

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