Biden Has More Power Over the Filibuster Than He’s Been Willing to Use

A majority of Democrats oppose the Senate filibuster—and it’s still not entirely clear whether President Joe Biden is among them. In March, when asked whether he would call for changes to the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for legislation, Biden replied, “The only thing I’ve been relatively good at in my long career in the Senate is figuring out when to move and when not to move. You’ve got to have the votes.”

Six months later, Biden may or may not have the votes. And now it is . As the , many of the largest parts of the Biden agenda, including comprehensive immigration reform and gun-safety legislation, will never pass so long as the Senate’s 60-vote threshold remains in place. Neither will the Freedom to Vote Act, Congress’s last hope to expand voting rights