乔·拜登总统在接受美国广播公司“今晚世界新闻”主播大卫·穆尔的独家采访时说，他将支持修改参议院规则，以允许投票权立法继续进行——但只有在必要的情况下。

“你准备好支持对参议院规则进行根本性的修改来完成这项工作了吗?”穆尔周三在白宫的一次坐下来的采访中问拜登。

“是的，”拜登回答道。

“那是什么意思?”穆尔问道。

“这意味着不惜一切代价，”总统说。

当被缪尔问及他是否支持破例，还是支持阻挠议事——参议院长期以来的程序是需要60名参议员投票才能推进法案——拜登说他支持，但只是作为最后手段。

“我认为我们可能不必走那么远，”总统说，“但如果这是，如果这是——在获得投票权立法通过和不获得通过之间唯一的障碍是阻挠议事，我会的，我支持为阻挠议事排除投票权。”

上周，拜登告诉记者，“没有什么比投票权更重要的国内问题了”，称之为“最大的问题”

但在民主党控制的众议院8月份通过了一项法案，该法案将显著扩大联邦政府在全国共和党领导的州打击限制性投票规则的能力后，这项立法在平分秋色的参议院毫无进展。

根据“阻挠议事”程序，大多数法案需要60名参议员投票才能通过。因此，目前在参议院的50名民主党参议员将需要至少10名共和党同事加入他们的投票，以使投票权立法向前推进;到目前为止，这还没有发生。

一些民主党人呼吁彻底废除阻挠议事，而另一些人则表示，投票权问题应该例外，因为在他们看来，投票权对民主进程非常重要。

这两个步骤都需要所有50名民主党人的支持。

但是温和的民主党人西弗吉尼亚州的乔·曼钦和亚利桑那州的基尔斯顿·西内马反对，他们担心共和党人如果重新控制参议院，可能会滥用这种做法。

 

安德鲁·凯利/美联社

来自纽约公平选举、黑人选民问题和工人圈的活动人士举行了一场...

“现在，”拜登告诉穆尔，有10名两党参议员坐下来，包括乔·曼钦，试图改变参议院的规则——这些规则已经被改变了多次——改变参议院的规则，以适应能够在不需要60票的情况下提出和通过主要立法。"

在拜登对美国广播公司新闻发表评论后，一名记者周四询问白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基，是否像一些民主党人呼吁的那样，拜登会支持在其他进步的优先事项上取消阻挠议事，如防止枪支暴力、气候变化和移民。

她没有排除这种可能性。

普萨基说:“他很高兴与民主党人进行这种对话，我们当然希望这是未来一年对话的一部分。

10月，在美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)的一次市政厅会议上，有人问拜登:“谈到投票权，我很清楚，你会考虑在这个问题上取消阻挠议事的想法，对吗?”

“也许更多，”总统当时回应道。

Biden tells Muir on filibuster exception for voting rights: 'whatever it takes'

President Joe Biden said in an exclusive interview with ABC "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir that he would support changing Senate rules to allow voting rights legislation to proceed – but only if necessary.

"Are you prepared to support fundamental changes in the Senate rules to get this done?" Muir asked Biden on Wednesday during a sit-down interview at the White House.

"Yes," Biden replied.

"What does that mean?" Muir asked.

"That means whatever it takes," the president said.

Asked by Muir if he supported an exception, or "carveout" to the filibuster -- the long-standing Senate procedure that requires 60 senators to vote to allow a bill to move forward -- Biden said he did, but only as a last resort.

"I don't think we may have to go that far," the president said, "but I would be if that’s, if it’s -- the only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster, I support making the exception of voting rights for the filibuster."

Last week, Biden told reporters that "there's nothing domestically more important than voting rights," calling it "the single biggest issue."

But after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in August passed a bill that would significantly expand the federal government's ability to combat restrictive voting rules in Republican-led states across the country, the legislation has gone nowhere in the evenly-split Senate.

Under the "filibuster" procedure, most bills need 60 senators to vote to allow them to proceed. So, the 50 Democratic senators currently in the Senate would need at least 10 of their Republican colleagues to join them in voting to allow the voting rights legislation to move forward; so far, that has not happened.

Some Democrats have called for the filibuster to be done away with completely, while others have said an exception should be made for the issue of voting rights since, in their opinion, it is so important to the democratic process.

Either of those steps would require the backing of all 50 Democrats.

But moderate Democrats Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are opposed -- fearing Republicans could abuse the practice if they retake control of the Senate.

"Right now," Biden told Muir, there are 10 bipartisan senators sitting down, including Joe Manchin, trying to change the Senate rules -- which have been changed a number of times -- change the Senate rules to accommodate being able to bring up and get passage of, up or down, of major pieces of legislation without requiring 60 votes."

Following Biden's comments to ABC News, a reporter on Thursday asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki if, as some Democrats have called for, Biden would support doing away with the filibuster for other progressive priorities -- such as gun violence prevention, climate change and immigration.

She did not rule it out.

“He's happy to have that conversation with Democrats, and certainly we expect that to be a part of the conversations that will be had in the year ahead," Psaki said.

At a CNN town hall in October, Biden was asked: "When it comes to voting rights, just so I'm clear though, you would entertain the notion of doing away with the filibuster on that one issue, is that correct?"

"And maybe more," the president responded then.