© Provided by NBC News WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden again championed a "talking filibuster" on Thursday to make it harder for a minority party to block bills, and for the first time expressed willingness to go further in overhauling the rule.
At his first press conference as president, Biden received numerous questions about the 60-vote threshold, and said it is "being abused in a gigantic way."
He said the rule should be reverted to a "talking filibuster," which was altered to a silent filibuster in the 1970s. "You had to stand there and talk and talk and talk and talk until you collapse," he said, adding that eventually the talking ends and the Senate can proceed.
"I strongly support moving in that direction," Biden said.
The president's remarks come as large portions of his agenda are threatened by the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, due to widespread Republican opposition in a chamber divided 50-50 between the parties. He said his goal is to find a way to negotiate and make progress on his goals.
But he also indicated he might support going further, if that fails.
"If we have to - if there's complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we'll have to go beyond what I'm talking about," Biden said.
At this time, Democrats don't have the 50 Senate votes required to abolish the filibuster, with some prominent holdouts who support the effective supermajority requirement to pass bills.
Biden doesn't get a vote on the filibuster, but his position matters. It could be influential with moderate Democratic senators who are on the fence. And if the caucus is unified for abolishing or modifying it, then Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the decisive vote.
Asked Thursday if he agrees with former President Barack Obama that the filibuster is a "Jim Crow relic," Biden replied: "Yes."