Flashback: Sen. Biden Decries “the Arrogance of Power” - What Does He Say Now?

The Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate Chuck Schumer has announced that he wants the Senate to get rid of the filibuster. The Senate will address changing the legislative filibuster rules on or before January 17th. This comes at a time when the Left has not been successful in passing the Build Back Better plan.
Senator Schumer stated in a letter to his colleagues:
"We must ask ourselves, if the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, then how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the Republican Party can debate and pass voter suppression laws at the State level with only a simple majority vote, but not allow the United States Senate to do the same? We must adapt. The Senate must evolve, like it has many times before. The Senate was designed to evolve and has evolved many times in our history. . . . We hope our Republican colleagues change course and work with us. But if they do not, the Senate will debate and consider changes to Senate rules on or before January 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to protect the foundation of our democracy: free and fair elections."
Let’s remember back in 2017 when Senator Schumer was begging the Senate not to change the filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominees after President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court:
"It looks like Gorsuch will not reach the 60-vote margin. So, instead of changing the rules, which is up to Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority, why doesn’t President Trump, Democrats, and Republicans in the Senate sit down and come up with a mainstream nominee? Look, when a nominee doesn’t get 60 votes, you shouldn’t change the rules. You should change the nominee."
It is clear he is only willing to change the filibuster when it benefits him. The Democrats will have to be completely in unison for this to be passed. And for that, Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema will be key votes. But Senator Manchin has not made his stance clear, saying:
"There is basically the need for us to protect democracy as we know it and the Senate as it has operated for 232 years are extremely . . . high bars that we must be very careful. . . . So, I am talking, I am not agreeing to any of this to the extent. I want to talk and see all of the options we have open. And that’s what we’re looking at."
It’s important to note that the Constitution does not contain a filibuster mandate. ACLJ Senior Counsel Andy Ekonomou explained this:
"There is no constitutional mandate for the filibuster. It is an internal Senate operating procedure. But it is what distinguishes the Senate from the House. The House everything goes by a simple majority. The idea is that the Senate is the premier legislative and deliberative body in the world. And that means that it takes its time and the legislation that is made by popular consent popping up in the House of Representatives, the breaks are put on that in the Senate, and it deliberates, and it debates. That’s what distinguishes the Senate from the House. And that’s why you need to keep it the way it is and has historically been."
We will continue to monitor the development of this potential change in the Senate and provide you with updates.