9:39 p.m. ET, October 21, 2021
Biden was just asked about the filibuster. Here's what the Senate procedure does.
The fight over voting rights has once again put the filibuster front and center. President Biden was just asked about the Senate procedure during his town hall event.
Senate Republicans
blocked another voting rights bill Wednesday, as some on the left call to change the chamber's rules to allow the Democratic Party to unilaterally change federal election law. The vote was 49 to 51.
Amid the Republican blockade, Democrats on the left have also increasingly called on their party's senators to gut the Senate's filibuster rule
requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation.
Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, a Senate Democratic candidate, said in a statement, "every Democratic Senator who votes in favor of this bill today, but won't support getting rid of the filibuster, is engaging in performative politics, and is content with the GOP's complete assault on our democracy."
But what is a filibuster, and why do Democrats want to change it? The short version of the story is that Democrats want to reinterpret Senate rules so they can use just 50 votes to pass things like the voting rights bill or Biden's massive infrastructure package.
According to the Senate website —
which has its own glossary — a filibuster is this: "Informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length, by offering numerous procedural motions, or by any other delaying or obstructive actions."
These days, it's shorthand for anytime senators demand a supermajority to cut off debate and move to an actual vote on just about anything.
When people talk about ending the filibuster, what they really mean is reinterpreting Senate rules around cloture so that legislation could pass by a simple majority instead of being held up by a minority.
Because Democrats have only 50 votes right now, every one of them needs to be on board to change the Senate rules — and they could be changed back in the future. Currently,
moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia are not in favor of changing it.
Read more about the filibuster here.
Watch the moment:
CNN's Zach Wolfe, Daniella Diaz and Alex Rogers Kate Sullivan contributed reporting to this post.