The talking filibuster — and its limits

President Biden signed on to the idea in a new interview, joining Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). But making senators actually talk to hold up a bill — as they used to decades ago — is hardly a cure-all.

Senate Democrats recently passed President Biden’s historic $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on a party-line vote. But the exercise reinforced the reality for the party moving forward: GOP votes will be very hard to come by, and passing virtually any other significant Democratic legislation will be very difficult. This one required just 50 votes under the reconciliation process, but that legislative maneuver can be used only sparingly, and everything else will require 60 votes.

Enter the most likely current candidate for reform: the talking filibuster.

Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) is one of two moderate Senate Democrats posing the biggest obstacle to the left’s quest to get rid of the filibuster — the source of the effective 60-vote threshold. He and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have said there are no circumstances under which they would nuke the filibuster. Given that a majority of the Senate is needed to undo it — and Democrats have just 50 votes — that’s prohibitive for now.

Recently, though, Manchin suggested a middle ground — keeping the filibuster but making it more difficult. And now Biden too has signed on.

The idea is to require senators waging filibusters to actually talk at length on the Senate floor to sustain them — as they had to decades ago. It has previously been supported for years by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

“If you want to make it a little bit more painful, make him stand there and talk, I’m willing to look at any way we can,” Manchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”