Biden’s uphill climb on Capitol Hill to pass filibuster, voting reform

President Biden took a special trip to Capitol Hill Thursday to try to pass new voting legislation through filibuster reform. But it may be more of an uphill battle than he planned.

“The honest to God answer is, I don’t know whether we can get this done,” he said.

Biden met with Senate Democrats to talk about possibly changing the rules on the filibuster as a way to push the voting bill to a vote. The use of the filibuster can be used to stop or delay a bill from moving forward by forcing a 60 vote super majority.

Not everyone is on board with changing the filibuster, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

“There is no need for me to restate my longstanding support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation,” she said. “And there’s no need for me to restate its role protecting our country from wild reversals in federal policy. It is a view I’ve held during my years serving in both the U.S. House and the Senate, and it is the view I continue to hold.”

With the Senate split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, Biden will need her support, as well as every Democrat’s, in order to change the filibuster rules. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) also stated his opposition to filibuster reform.